Like Father
by woundedbutterfly
Summary: Casey Novak is on the recieving end of unwanted advances from a strange source. But when she refuses, things take a dark turn. Warnings inside... C/E pairing later
1. Chapter 1

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own SVU or any of the characters therein (sad face). If I did, you know Casey and Elliot would be getting it on….**_

_**A/N: WARNING: This story has a very mature, and slightly obscure theme. It will have a rape scene in it. I honest to god don't know where this idea came from, but it wouldn't go until I wrote it down, so here it is! This is my first fanfic, so please don't be too mean (happy face). Olivia is quite OOC, I do love her, but you aren't going to in this story!**_

_**Chapter One**_

_It was 9am and the Bullpen of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit was already alive with activity, most of the detectives having been called in the night before on a case which had exploded overnight. _

_Luckily for ADA Casey Novak, the crime had taken place in the street, a raped woman, who was also the unfortunate victim of a hit and run, where the car was abandoned at the scene, and as such, her services of securing search warrants and compelling DNA samples hadn__'__t been needed right away, so she__'__d managed a good eight hours. She breezed through the hall, bright eyed and well rested, eliciting many an angry, bloodshot, caffeine glazed glare from her co-workers, all except Olivia Benson, who greeted her warmly, scooting out from behind her desk and pressing a Starbucks cup into her hands,_

"_Just in time, it__'__s still warm, we__'__re gonna need a search warrant for__…"_

_Sometimes a good morning would be nice, _Casey thought to herself wryly as the Detective followed her into her office, rattling off the details of the new case.

************

Elliot Stabler had thought about it, and he decided that it was cute.

Sure, Olivia's school girl crush on the young, tall, copper haired Prosecutor was a little childish, and had become the focus of their after hours conversations lately, but it made a nice change from discussing his rapidly deteriorating marriage, and he hadn't seen that shine in her eyes since Alex Cabot. He chuckled to himself as he watched Olivia glance back at him with a grin, and place her hand on the small of Casey's back as they walked, the most likely Heterosexual ADA nodding along to Olivia's monologue wholly oblivious to the gesture.

************

As it turned out, the warrant was easy to secure, they detectives needed it to search the home of the owner of the abandoned vehicle. Wasn't hard to convince a judge that the person might have had something to do with it. Casey got so bored, by late afternoon she decided to pop over to the Special Victim Unit bull pen, and see if she couldn't find herself some work. Only Elliot and Munch remained. Casey, not a fan of biting constant sarcasm, leant on Elliot's desk instead.

"Hey Elliot, what's happening with the Alyssa Daniels hit and run case?" She asked.

Elliot glanced up at her, with a lopsided grin. She had trouble not melting when she looked into his sky coloured eyes. She had to remind herself over and over that he was married, and even if he was technically separated, he clearly had a thing for Olivia. That pretty much made Casey the opposite of his type, the only similarity the two women shared was height.

"Not much, you can catch up with Liv if you're _that _bored though." He said, jovially. It was rare that Casey was chasing the detectives for work. Normally it was the reverse and she was bitching that they were running her ragged with precious little evidence as back up.

Casey sighed, "I am that bored, where can I find her?"

"She's at a bar downtown, it's called _Sugar_. She and Fin were the first to arrive on scene, so they get to go first."

"Alright, I'll see if she needs anything." Casey smiled, walking away purposefully, grabbing her jacket and beret from the coat-rack.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Munch began to laugh.

"I can't believe you've just done that to our poor, innocent ADA." He said, shaking his head, pushing his displaced tinted glasses back up his nose.

"Come on John, we need a laugh after an early call out. Plus, it'll make Liv's day!"

************

The Bar hadn't been hard to find, it was only minutes from the precinct, and the sign was bright pink. Casey chained her bike to the very convenient bike rack outside and walked in.

It wasn't the worst bar she'd been in, but was strangely devoid of men. Casey stuffed her beret in her coat pocket and surveyed the rest of the room, quickly spotting Olivia sitting alone in a booth, nursing a tall, frothy beer. She made her way over and took a seat.

************

Olivia groaned as she felt a presence next to her. Every time she just wanted a quiet drink, when she found a secluded corner booth to hole away in, it seemed every woman in Manhattan tried to pick her up. Normally, that would be a good thing, but she was shattered. She just wanted to hunch over her beer in peace.

She turned around to bark out a harsh 'not interested' when she was dumbstruck to find herself staring straight into the emerald green eyes of Casey Novak.

"Casey?" She said, in surprise.

"Liv?" The attorney replied, mockingly.

"I was _not_ expecting to see you here," Olivia stammered out. She wasn't expecting it, but she was definitely glad. She'd dropped subtle hints about her sexuality to the ADA, none of which had seemed to sink in. The chance of Casey also just happening to be a lesbian seemed too good to be true, but there she was, in the flesh, in one of the most popular lesbian bars in Manhattan.

"Actually, I was looking for you," Casey said. Was it just her, or did Casey smile a little seductively as she said it?

"Really?" Olivia leant one elbow on the table. "So, what are you drinking?"

"On the clock," Casey shrugged "mind if I smoke though?"

"I didn't know you did." Olivia said, sliding the ashtray across the table.

"Bad habit, I know." Casey said, but Olivia was barely listening. She was too busy focusing on Casey's mouth as she placed a cigarette between her delicate glossed lips, lighting it, drawing in a first breath and letting out a satisfied sigh. Olivia wasn't a big fan of cigarettes, but that was what gave Casey that sexy edge to her voice, she could get used to them.

"We all have our vices." Olivia smiled, draining the rest of her beer, and getting up to go to the bar. She squeezed Casey's shoulder gently. "Just a Diet Coke for you then teetotaller."

Casey nodded. "I'm afraid I'm still in my official capacity as your ADA for, oh," She tapped her wristwatch, "another two hours or so."

"All right counsellor, but the minute it turns six o'clock, I fully expect you to make up for it."

"Sure thing." Casey said, gifting Olivia with another one of her adorable smiles. It was hard to walk away.

************

Casey enjoyed the rest of her cigarette, it was only her second of the day and it tasted like heaven. She had originally sought Olivia out to try to rustle up some work, but she found the tipsy behaviour of the detective so entertaining, she was quite happy to just sit and chat. Olivia was almost being flirtatious, Casey swore Liv had winked at her as she was swaggering to the bar. She _would _rib Olivia about this at the precinct in the morning.

************

"Whose the knockout strawberry blonde?" The Barkeeper, Leah, asked when Olivia arrived at the bar.

"_That__'__s _the lawyer I was telling you about last week!" Olivia exclaimed, in hushed excitement.

"Damn." Leah said, looking Casey up and down. "I thought you said she was straight?"Olivia grinned, wide and catlike. "So I thought. Then she shows up here, looking for me. Guess my radars on the blink."

"Damn girl, you close that deal." Leah said, handing Olivia her beer and a Diet Coke.

"Wish me luck." Olivia winked as she headed back to the booth.

************

Olivia slid back into the booth, close enough that their legs were touching. Casey thought about shuffling away, but decided not to. Perception of others peoples personal space was one of the first things to go when people were drunk.

"Here you go." Olivia said, placing Casey's drink down in front of her.

************

It was an hour and a half, and three drinks later. Casey had stuck to soda, while Olivia had gone with a couple of different ales and whisky chasers at the bar. Sufficiently filled with Dutch courage, Olivia decided to make her move.

"So, why have you never come out before now?" Olivia asked, just to make sure she hadn't misread the situation.

************

"What are you talking about?" Casey frowned. She'd been out with the detectives many a time after a successful, or not so successful case. "I know I've missed the last few bar trips, but I've just been tired."

************

Now Olivia was confused. Maybe it was the drink. She decided to move to plan B. The direct approach. She leaned in and pressed her mouth against Casey's. The young blondes lips were as soft and plump as they looked and she tasted slightly of smoke, but Olivia was surprised to find it wasn't unpleasant.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's another chapter… I had already had this one written, but I thought it would be easier to separate it up**

Chapter Two

Casey was stunned for a few seconds, as her mind wrapped around what was happening. Detective Olivia Benson was kissing her. Hard. On the mouth.

Once out of her brief stupor, she pulled away, laughing nervously,

"Woah, I think someone may have had too much to drink!"

"I think someone," Olivia slurred, brushing her index finger down the middle of Casey's lips, "hasn't had _enough _to drink." Olivia leaned in again, only making the briefest contact before Casey pushed her away,

"Liv, I think I need to get you home: now."

"You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that counsellor." Olivia said with a devilish smile, running a hand up Casey's bare leg. Casey caught hold of Olivia's wrist before her hand could make its way up her skirt.

"Benson, I'm putting you in a cab." Casey snapped, firmly. Her harsh tone seemed to snap Olivia out of her intoxication for a moment.

"Okay." Olivia said softly, staring at her boots under the table, like a naughty child.

************

Olivia was very embarrassed. It wasn't even dark out, and she was wasted, leaning heavily on Casey as she stumbled out of _Sugar. _The blonde easily hailed a taxi, helping Olivia in before getting in herself. They rode to Olivia's apartment in awkward silence, Casey helped her to her floor before leaving in a hurry.

************

The next day, it was business as usual for Casey Novak, she buried herself headlong in Motions, paperwork, and inevitable arguments with detectives who, even after longer in their jobs than she'd had, still thought Attorney's had the power to change the law on a whim.

She bristled when she heard another knock at the door.

"Come in!" She barked. Elliot stalked in, cautiously.

"Hey Case." He said, with a nervous smile.

"El, sorry but I'm swamped, so if you need any more…" Elliot cut her off.

"Casey, I just wanted to apologise for yesterday, I shouldn'ta done that to you."

Casey froze, remembering the other evening, the kiss.

"You did that on purpose?" Casey said, setting down her pen.

Elliot stifled a laugh. "Sorry, it was a long day, it was childish…"

It was Casey's turn to interrupt,

"Forget about it, it's fine. At least we both know where we stand now."

"You never guessed that Liv was?"

"No."

"And you're not?"

"I'm straight." Casey nodded, "did Olivia say anything about last night?" Casey saw a sparkle of curiosity in Elliot's eyes.

"She's practically too hung over to speak." Elliot waited for more information, his thick eyebrows raised, but Casey didn't want to embarrass Olivia. "Sorry El, I've really got to get this finished," She motioned over the copious papers on her desk. She didn't need to tell him most of it was already completed.

"Ok, Case, catch you later."

And with that he was gone.

************

It was the end of the day of a long day and Casey was finally getting ready to leave the office when there was another knock on the door. She was sorely tempted to ignore it, and pretend she had already left, but against her better judgement, she called out,

"Come in." She turned to the door to see Olivia enter. "Hi." Casey smiled tightly. This wasn't a conversation she wanted to have. She had hoped they might just avoid each other for a few days then never speak of it again.

"Elliot told me he sent you to the bar." Olivia began.

"Don't worry about it Liv, I understand, it was an easy mistake to…I was there, I know how you might have thought that I was…"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Olivia stepped closer and placed a hand on Casey's cheek. "There's a first time for everything." She added.

Casey backed up, but Olivia moved closer. Casey felt the wall against her back.

"I don't think so Olivia," Casey said, shoulders tensing.

"How do you know if you've never tried it." Olivia smiled, placing a hand on Casey's shoulder. Casey brushed it off as politely as she could.

"I just know," Casey stammered "and, and even if I was going to…experiment, it would be an mistake, we work together. It would complicate things, so I'm sorry but…"

In an instant, Olivia's body was against hers. Olivia had managed to position her thigh between her legs, hands gripping Casey's wrists down by her sides, and her mouth against Casey's ear.

"Are you sure you don't want to experiment counsellor?" Olivia said breathily, giving Casey's ear lobe a quick nip.

"Shit!" Casey gasped at the sensation. If a man pinned her to the wall, Casey would forcefully push him off her, giving him a slap for his trouble. But this was a woman and a friend. She didn't have a template for this.

"Liv, please let go of me?" Casey tried, nervously. Olivia ignored her, but Casey managed to twist her wrists free, and quickly freed herself. Olivia stumbled back, frowning.

"Hey, easy Case!"

Casey regained her composure, straightening her suit jacket, "I'm sorry Olivia, you've crossed a line, I'd like to you leave now."

Olivia crossed her arms, brows furrowing in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Casey crossed her arms too, using her authoritative lawyer voice "I've said no, and now this is bordering on sexual harassment…"

"Lighten up Novak, I was just having a little fun with you," Olivia shook her head "You can seriously be comparing what just happened here to the horrific things we both work to prosecute!"

Casey worked her jaw slowly, slightly embarrassed by the comparison she'd made, but knowing deep down that what she had said was true, and if a male detective had walked in and done the exact same thing, she'd already be on the phone to the SVU squad room requesting his arrest. The only thing she was sure of was that she didn't want to be in the same room as Olivia right now.

"Get the hell out of my office." Casey said firmly, holding the door open.

Olivia shook her head. "Sure thing counsellor."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Bad language, yada yada**

Casey returned to her office after the weekend to a answer machine full of messages, the first one from Captain Cragen, angrily requesting her presence in his office. She worked through the rest of her messages before making her way over to the SVU squadroom. She had barely hung up her coat when the Captain spotted her.

"Novak! My office! Now!" He barked, loudly and severely enough that everyone in the squadroom turned to Casey. She made her way to his office, feeling like she'd been called to the principal's office.

As soon as his door was shut, she was on the offensive, "Don what the hell was that about?" Casey used his first name; a subtle reminder that while she worked for the Special Victims Department he oversaw, he was not her boss.

"Don't play dumb with me," Cragen warned, plopping down behind his desk. Casey was about to take a seat to, but he put a hand up. "Don't bother, this isn't going to take long, then I want you out of my sight."

"Fire away." Casey said, shooting him her stoniest glare.

"First, let me tell you, I take the rights of my officers very seriously, and anyone who fucks with them is fucking with me, got it?"

"I don't see where this is…"

"Shut up! If you've got a problem with one of my detectives sexual preferences then you better make damn sure you keep it to yourself."

Casey's mouth hung open, "Don, I would never discriminate against someone based on…"

"I'm not interested Counsellor!" Cragen cut in again. "Benson has worked here a hell of a lot longer than you have, and you better believe that I believe her over you. And you also better believe that if this is not the last I hear of this, my foot will be so far up your ass you'll taste shoe leather."

"With all due respect, you have no authority to fire me." Casey said.

"I can't fire you, but I can kick you out of my department. And trust me young lady, I have friends in the DA office. You don't even want to think about where you'll be working if this comes up again. We clear?"

"Yes sir." Casey managed to murmur, she felt like she had just been punched in the chest.

"Then get the hell out of my office."

As Casey rushed back through the squad room, trying hard not to cry before she was in the sanctity of her own office, she swore she saw Olivia flash a quick wink.

************

It was the end of the day again, and Casey was still shaken from her earlier encounter with Cragen. She heard a rap on her door and called out grumpily,

"Who is it?"

"Olivia."

Casey swallowed hard. It had to have been Olivia who had orchestrated the dressing down she'd received from the Captain, so telling her to go screw herself might be a mistake, however, she certainly didn't want a repeat of Olivia's last late evening visit. She was still weighing up her options when Olivia let herself in uninvited, saving Casey the trouble of deciding.

"Hi." Casey greeted, tightly, remaining behind the safety of her desk.

Olivia strolled in, taking a seat on the other side of the desk.

"I saw Cragen called you in."

Casey flinched at the memory, "He did."

"How'd that go?" Olivia asked with a knowing smirk. Casey braced herself, reigning in her argumentative side (one of the factors that had pushed her toward her present career choice). She wanted to tear Olivia a new one, tell her how she wasn't going to let her intimidation tactics frighten her, but in truth, Casey had worked too damn hard to get where she was at such a young age. She gritted her teeth. She couldn't let her sense of pride undo it all. Her mentor and present boss Elizabeth Donnelly had once told her to pick her battles. She'd let Olivia have this one.

"I'm sorry if I offended you last night Olivia." Casey said, keeping her eyes focused on the law book she'd been consulting, letting her eyes blur against the words.

"Apology accepted. I'm just glad you got the message."

"Received loud and clear." Casey said, sarcastically. Olivia had worked her much longer and had powerful allies. And Casey's story was unbelievable, even to Casey herself. So shut up.

Olivia pushed herself up from the chair, and stalked around the desk. Without warning, she reached behind Casey's head, taking hold of a handful of copper hair at the nape of her neck and pressed a hard kiss to Casey's lips, ending it by biting her lower lip hard enough that she drew blood.

"Good girl," Olivia winked, and left Casey alone with her thoughts and her sore lip.

************

A month later brought valentines day. Being single, it wasn't a day Casey was looking forward to, until she arrived in her office, surprised to find a single red rose laid delicately on her desk, along with a small card note signed: _From your secret valentine xx_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thought this needed a fluffier chapter… **

"I shouldn't be doing this." The Lab Tech smiled, even as she brushed the card with powder, blowing off the excess, "ah, we got a few good ones. No doubt some of these belong to you, but once we isolate your prints, we should be able to find your secret admirer on the database, if it was someone from the precinct that is."

Casey smiled, "thank you."

************

It only took minutes,

"We have a match!" the Lab Tech said, grinning inanely at the computer screen. Casey leapt out of her chair eagerly.

"Don't worry, your secrets safe with me." She smiled, turning the screen to Casey.

Casey gaped at the screen.

Staring back at her were the baby blue eyes of Detective Elliot Stabler.

************

Casey made her way into the precinct cautiously.

It felt strange to be back there.

Since that day when Cragen had called her in, and Olivia had made a follow up call she had made every effort to avoid the place, only dropping in briefly when her presence was unequivocally necessary.

She was glad to see Olivia was not at her desk, but Elliot still at his. Casey began to wring her hands, nervously. She had no idea what to say, she wasn't good at this sort of thing. In a courtroom, she oozed confidence. But there were hard and fast rules there, real life wasn't so black and white.

Steeling herself, Casey willed herself to Stabler's desk, perching on the edge.

"Hey Elliot." She greeted.

"Hey Case." He smiled up at her.

"I never would have figured you to be the romantic type." She said quietly enough that only he could hear. His surprised face was almost to cute to stand.

"How did you…?""I ran the prints on the card through IAFIS." Casey said, feeling quite proud of herself.

"Well, well, well," Elliot grinned "I guess some of our detective skills must have rubbed off on you."

"I guess so."

"Since you've found me out, and I'm assuming since you're still here that you don't have plans, do you want to grab dinner?" Elliot asked.

"I'd love to."

************

"You had this whole thing planned." Casey surmised. They had left the precinct surreptitiously, and Elliot had driven them straight to an authentic looking Italian restaurant that smelled of basil and garlic. He had a table for two booked.

"You got me again." Elliot smiled. Somewhere between the station and the restaurant, he'd added a tie to his white shirt, sports jacket and jeans.

"What would you have done if I hadn't figured it was you, or if hadn't been interested." Casey asked. She couldn't stop grinning like an idiot, and it seemed to be infectious. Elliot looked like he'd been attacked by the Joker too.

"Well, then I'd be having a romantic dinner by myself. I wouldn't have been too cut up, this place does great lasagne."

Conversation had flowed easily between them, and when dinner was over, Elliot took her back to her apartment, walking Casey to her door, a muscular arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"I really enjoyed tonight." Casey said, when they finally reached her door. She was reluctant to go inside. She had been dreading valentines day for a long time, and now she didn't want it to end.

"Me too." Elliot smiled, pulling her into a warm hug. "And don't worry, I've got garlic breath too." He whispered before leaving her with a gentle first kiss and butterflies in her stomach.

************

It had been two weeks since valentines day. Since then, they had spent practically every night both at one or the others apartment, making sure to set off to work at different times to avoid arriving together. Elliot made sure if anything needed taking to the DA's office, he was the one delivering it, stealing stealthy kisses and cuddles when they were certain no one was around.

Both had decided it prudent to keep it a secret while it was still early days. Casey was busy preparing the paperwork for an upcoming arraignment, when Elliot let himself into her office, two coffees and a box of donuts in hand.

"Morning," he grinned, shutting the door behind him, placing the booty on the table and leaning across the table to give Casey a quick kiss.

"Elliot!" She scolded, "I've told you about having breakfast in my office, people will talk!"

Elliot grinned, passing her coffee across the table and taking a seat, "Don't worry Case, I told the guys I've brought you breakfast to lather you up before we start hassling you for a search warrant we really need."

Casey rolled her eyes, "You need to bring me probable cause if you want a warrant, not donuts."

"Not even if they have sprinkles?" Elliot ventured.

"The colourful kind?" Casey asked hopefully. Elliot opened the box and frowned.

"'fraid not. Just plain chocolate." He announced.

"Then I'm afraid I can't help you." Casey grinned, gratefully accepting the much needed coffee from Elliot and surveying the donut varieties available.

************

"We've done all the leg work here, how hard can it be to get the damn warrant!" Olivia nearly yelled. Just as Elliot had said, they needed a warrant. And the detectives really didn't have much more than donuts to secure it.

"It's going to be damn near impossible now you've pissed all over my case! What were you thinking entering the property without a warrant?" Casey asked, volume and tone matching Olivia's.

"The key was under the doormat…" Olivia started.

"But you didn't have probable cause, so it was still an illegal search, you may have found all the evidence, but none of it is going to be admissible in court!" Casey said.

"That doesn't matter, he's not been back to the apartment yet, he has no idea we've been in there. Issue the warrant, we'll search the place, find what we already know is there and bam, another pervert's off the streets!" Olivia said.

"I'm sorry, have you been issued with a time machine I was not aware of," Casey asked, sarcastically, "I'll let the judge know, our esteemed detectives travelled to the future, saw the evidence and now just need a warrant to…"

"If you weren't so fucking useless at your job, you'd find a way!" Olivia yelled, inches from Casey's face. Elliot immediately jumped in, pulling her away.

"Liv, that's enough!" He snapped. "Case is a damn fine ADA, now, come on, we're going to go and find some evidence." Olivia swatted Elliot's hands off her and stormed out of the office. Elliot cast an apologetic glance over his shoulder at Casey as he followed his partner out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: this is a bit of a short chapter, the next one is going to be pretty harsh, I'm even having trouble writing it, so don't say you haven't been warned! Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing, it's been spurring me on to complete it! **

Casey placed the phone back on the receiver in her apartment and tucked her pyjamad knees against her chest, resting her chin atop. Elliot had just spent the last half hour on the phone, apologising profusely for what had transpired in her office earlier that day. She had just nodded and was glad when he finally had to go. Not that she didn't want to speak to him, but it was a lost cause. Her case was shot to hell, and he had the kids for a few days, so he couldn't come over. She was about to go to bed when she heard the lock turn. Only two people had spare keys to her apartment, and she'd just hung up from Elliot.

That only left one option.

"Hello Casey." Olivia smiled from the doorway.

"What are you doing here." Casey frowned dismissively, choosing not to get up and greet her.

"Elliot not around?" Olivia asked.

Casey started at the mention of her boyfriends name. "Why would he be?"

"Oh please," Olivia growled, "you think I don't know what's going on between you two? The way he jumped to your rescue earlier?"

"My personal life is none of you business!" Casey yelled, finally getting up to stand face to face with the Detective.

"It is my business when you're screwing my partner just to piss me off!"

"This has nothing to do with you!" Casey said "And get out of my apartment!"

"Make me." Olivia said, stepping directly into Casey's personal space.

"Grow up." Casey said, rounding Olivia, reaching for the door handle. Before she could open it, a fist thudded under her ribs, forcing the air out of her lungs. In and instant, she was slammed face first against the wall and Olivia was behind her, pinning her arms behind her back and cuffing them in one smooth manoeuvre.

"Did you think I was going to let you get away with making me look like an idiot?" Olivia asked, voice low, threatening and right next to her ear.

************

Elliot hadn't fallen this hard since Kathy. Hell, he'd married Kathy right out of high school, he'd never fallen for anyone else period.

He stared at the passport size picture he'd slipped into his wallet of Casey. He'd 'borrowed' it from her office, he was sure she wouldn't mind, though she might refer to it as larceny. He found her Lawyer talk sweet.

His kids had fallen asleep in front of the TV (not that there was anywhere else for them to sleep in his Spartan apartment) and since then he'd been considering whether to pay a quick visit to Casey. She'd recently confided in him how much it affected her when the detectives questioned her commitment and blamed her for losing an unviable case or not being able to get them a subpoena or warrant. Casey had sounded so crestfallen on the phone, he'd just wanted to wrap her in his arms and squeeze her until she forgot all about it.

He was still imagining the softness of her hair against his cheek and the floral scent of her perfume when he dropped off to sleep in the armchair, joining the Stabler family nap.

************

Olivia wrenched Casey's arm and she realized the question wasn't rhetorical.

"God Liv!" She yelped as pain arced from her shoulder down her spine.

"That's not the last time you're going to say that tonight." Olivia's voice had a menacing tone she'd never heard before. And Casey couldn't keep the fear out of her voice.

"What are you talking about?"

"We're done talking." Olivia growled, pushing Casey toward the bedroom door. Casey wasn't sure where Olivia was going with this, but was quite certain she didn't want to find out.

************

In truth, Olivia had come to Casey's apartment for an apology.

That was all she wanted from the little bitch, just a tiny, goddamn apology. Not just for making her feel like a sex offender just for making a pass at her after Casey had flirted shamelessly with her in the bar. No, she wanted an apology for the lying as well.

Casey had told Olivia doing anything would be a mistake because, 'they work together'. That was clearly a bullshit excuse, she blinked and then Casey was screwing her partner. She could have just said she wasn't interested. Olivia could have accepted that, she wasn't a child.

But the lying, she hated that.

Lawyers, liars. It was no coincidence the words sounded the same. Alex had been the same. They'd been going out for nearly a whole year, Alex promised she'd keep in touch from the WPP, but that had all been lies. She knew Alex had left the WPP months ago, but she hadn't even so much as given her the courtesy of a goddamn phone call.

Bitch.

Bitches, all of them.

And now Casey, not content with lying to her and making a fool of her, had decided to turn Elliot against her.

Olivia figured it was payback for the Cragen incident. All Olivia had wanted to do was show Casey that she was in charge, she could end Casey's career in an instant, so Casey sure as hell better not mess with her. It was all about work, nothing more.

But then Casey had to make it personal. She had to get her best friend Elliot involved.

She had brought this on herself. Casey had upped the ante, and Olivia was about to see her bet.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This is still not one for the kiddies….**

**Thanks again for reading! I should have a few more chapters to put up tomorrow….**

Casey cursed her pyjama pants elasticised waistband.

The situation she found herself in was absurd, like something out of a nightmare or bad porno film.

Olivia had pushed her into her bedroom, onto her bed and managed to relieve her of her pyjama pants before she'd had the chance to react, not that there was much she could do with her hands still cuffed, and was now neatly straddling her, her knees on either side of Casey's hips.

"Olivia, please, what are you…" Olivia leaned down, silencing her protests by covering Casey's mouth with her own. Casey tried her best to turn away, but Olivia put her hands on Casey's neck, using her thumbs to press down on her chin, allowing the detective to deepen the kiss. Trapped, Casey steeled herself. She wasn't going to give Benson the pleasure of hearing her whimper, no matter how scared she was in her current predicament. As Olivia continued to attack her lips with aggressive kisses, Casey realised, much to her indignation, that there was an object digging into the small of her back. Her indignation turned to astonishment when she realized that Olivia had managed to throw her on top of her own cell phone. Casey squirmed, getting one cuffed hand onto the phone, and thumbed what she hoped was speed dial three.

Elliot.

************

"Dad!" Dickie called again. Elliot woke with a start to see his son holding his vibrating cell phone out. The caller ID read 'Novak'. He still hadn't changed it to 'casey' yet.

"Thanks," Elliot said, mussing Dickie's hair, quickly retreating from earshot before answering the phone. If it was a to do with a case, he didn't want any of his kids catching the smallest detail. He wanted to keep them safe from that part of his life. If it wasn't to do with a case, he didn't want Dickie reporting to Kathy that Daddy had a new lady friend.

"Hey Casey," He answered, smiling as her name took his lips. There was silence. "Casey?" he tried again. He was greeted by a few loud key tones. His heart began to pound. What if Casey had been kidnapped? Or someone had gotten into her apartment. He silently cursed himself for falling asleep.

"Casey!" He tried again, more desperately.

"Hey! Elliot, what's up?" A voice came. Elliot was surprised to hear it was his partner, Olivia's voice.

"Liv? Why are you calling from Casey's phone?" Elliot asked, confused, but also relieved.

"My batteries dead, Casey let me borrow it. I just wanted to say sorry about earlier today, and let you know that I went round to Casey's, and we've made up."

Elliot smiled, "Glad to hear it. Is Case around?"

"Nah, she went in the shower, I'm just about to let myself out."

"Oh. Tell her hi from me then." Elliot said. Olivia assured him she would and hung up. He rubbed at the tension in the back of his neck. He couldn't quite believe the fear that had entered him at the thought of Casey getting hurt. His body was shot full of adrenaline, so there was no risk of any impromptu naps, but at least he felt a sense of calm washing over him. Casey was safe and sound, and his best friend and girlfriend had made up. For once, everything was going right with the women in Elliot's life.

************

"Oh, don't worry, I will." Olivia said with a smile, thumbing call release and thumbing the safety catch back on her glock, which she currently had pressed to Casey's neck. "Sneaky Counsellor. Very sneaky." she scolded. Having second thoughts, she flicked the safety off again and dismounted the ADA, standing at the side of her bed. She cocked the gun at Casey's temple, feeling a slight shiver of satisfaction as the younger woman started at the sound and clamped her pretty green eyes shut. "Get up." She ordered. Casey silently obeyed, wriggling her way to the side of the bed and getting slowly to her feet. Keeping the gun trained on her head, Olivia ordered her to turn around, then removed the cuffs.

************

Casey let out the breath she'd been holding in, still nervous with her back to an Olivia she didn't know, but glad Olivia had stopped the attack and released her cuffs. It was going to be a bitch to sort out in the morning, but at least, for now, it was over. She could huddle up and cry soon.

"Good girl." Olivia said. "Now, strip off."

Casey swallowed hard, but didn't move. This couldn't be happening. This shouldn't be happening. She felt the muzzle of the glock, cold against her lower back.

"Please Liv." She whispered, desperately. She could feel shivers racking her body, but she wasn't going to cry. She definitely wasn't going to cry.

"Do it." Olivia snapped, the gun pressed more insistently and Casey slowly set about removing her vest, bra, and pants, laying each item on the bed in turn. She kept her back to Olivia, feeling horribly exposed. Once she was naked, she felt cold metal in her hands.

"Cuff your hands to the headboard." Olivia ordered. Casey climbed onto the bed, avoiding Olivia's stare. She had never been felt self conscious being naked in front of someone of the same gender. She thought about trying to overpower Olivia, wrestle the gun from her somehow, but tonight so far had served to teach her that she didn't know what the Detective was capable of at all.

Reluctantly, she fastened the cuffs through the headboard and closed her eyes, wishing she were anywhere else other than in this nightmare.

************

Olivia smiled, placing the glock down on the nightstand, so Casey could see it was still there if needed. She tightened the cuffs, predictably the ADA had left them loose enough that with enough wriggling she might be able to escape, and stood back to look at her handiwork.

Casey Novak, naked as the day she was born, in all her pale, delicate glory, cuffed to a bed, completely at her mercy.

Olivia wished that the circumstances were different, but that didn't mean she was going to enjoy it any less.

"You know, Elliot told me about you and him." She grinned. Casey looked up at her, startled.

"He woudn't."

"He tells me everything Casey." Olivia smiled. "How else would I know that you turn into a kitten when kissed right about here…" she leant over Casey, pressing delicate kisses to the pulse points on her neck. Casey flinched, her expression wide-eyed and betrayed. It wasn't a lie. Elliot had told her they were seeing each other. Of course, she didn't need to tell Casey she knew about her favourite place to be kissed because she had caught Elliot and Casey in a passionate clinch once, after they thought everyone had gone home. She hadn't made her presence known. She'd just watched from afar, and had seen the blissful expression when Elliot had moved to that part of her body and noted it for future reference.

"Why are you doing this?" Casey asked, her normally sexily husky voice straining.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Adult themes, sorry about the darkness of this story, it just seems necessary for the subject matter**

**Oh, and thanks again for reading, if even this is kinda disturbing (even for me!)**

"Because I can." Had been Olivia's reply.

Casey sat out on the fire escape of her apartment, wrapped tight in a bathrobe, watching smoke from her second straight cigarette spiral into the night sky. It was freezing cold, and her hair was still wet, but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel anything.

She hadn't expected it to hurt as much as it had.

Olivia had been brutal, and relentless.

Casey had tried to resist, but Olivia was so strong, and with her hands restrained, it was useless.

Olivia was meticulous, not leaving an inch of Casey's flesh unexplored, with lips, tongue, or teeth.

Casey had broken her promise not to cry when Olivia had settled between her legs, working patiently on Casey's most intimate place with her fingers and tongue.

Casey's body betrayed her, responding to Olivia's practised touch. She had sobbed like a baby when Olivia brought her trembling body to climax, continuing to pound away with her fingers until her pained cries would have had the neighbours alerting the police had she not stopped.

When it was over, Olivia had un-cuffed Casey and reclaimed her gun, then finally let her dress herself, which she did with unfathomable speed.

She had reminded Casey that telling anyone about this was pointless, no one would ever believe it. Especially Elliot.

Then she had left. And since then, Casey had taken four showers, water as hot as she could stand, stinging her broken skin, one after another.

Her cell phone trilled, vibrating loudly on the metal fire escape next to her. Elliot's name was flashing on the screen for the third time in a row. She hit reject again. She couldn't bear to talk to him right now. She couldn't talk period. Elliot was a perceptive man, he'd realize something was wrong. Then he'd come over, and just how was she supposed to explain the love bites on her neck, the purpling bruises on her wrists, the angry red teeth marks on her collar bone?

She began to shiver from the cold, but still, she didn't go inside.

She couldn't face her apartment right now, but she had no where else to go.

She just lit another cigarette and waited to watch the sunrise.

************

Elliot tried Casey's phone again but got a busy signal. It was a little past one in the morning. Who could she be calling at this time?

He was about to call again when he received a text. It was from Liv. He opened it up:

_Hey El, nd 2 tlk 2 u. Its abt KC. Cnt w8 til AM. Mt at mine? Liv_

Elliot scribbled a quick note for his kids, pinning it to the fridge in case they got up before he was home. They were old enough to leave alone for a little while.

He threw on a jacket, locked the door and headed to Olivia's as fast as the prevailing speed limits would allow.

************

Olivia paced her apartment. Predictably, less than half an hour after her text, there was a knock at the door.

Elliot was as loyal as a golden retriever.

She ushered him in quickly, affecting her best concerned look.

"Hey Elliot." She said with a tight smile. "Thanks for coming so soon…"

"What is it?" Elliot asked, his eyes searched into hers, desperate. It was pathetically easy.

"I didn't want to be the one to tell you this Elliot, please don't be mad…"

"Liv, you're scaring me, you said this is about Casey, did she tell you something when you were over there earlier?" He asked.

Olivia shook her head grimly. "Not exactly. Come on El, you're going to need to sit down for this one." She lead him to the sofa. She rung her hands, doing her best impression of hesitance. She could see Elliot's stress levels dialling up. She walked into her kitchen. "Need a coffee?" She asked.

"Liv, I need to know what's happening with Casey, please!" Elliot pleaded. Olivia felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't realized how much Elliot cared for Casey. It was done now though, she couldn't turn back.

She sighed heavily. "El, when I went over to her apartment, Casey wasn't alone."

************

Casey didn't leave her apartment all weekend, and had taken the precaution of propping a chair under the front door handle, just in case. Olivia still had keys.

She had spent most of the time curled up on the sofa, foetal position. She still hadn't had the courage to re-enter her own bed. Where she had been violated. She hadn't even changed the sheets, she couldn't bear to look at it.

The wounds and bruises which she had hoped would fade before she had to return to work on Monday were still raw and vibrant, and joined now by some self inflicted wounds, a few cigarette burns on her forearms, more superficial cuts on from a paring knife across her stomach and arms where she'd marked her skin until she felt like it was her own again. That she had control of it.

She had showered and bathed countless times but still felt dirty to her core. She had only slept when her body demanded it unequivocally.

And something else was bothering her.

Elliot hadn't called.

Not since Friday night.

That was her smallest problem though, so she put it out of her mind and swallowed a couple of sleeping tablets, curling up on the sofa.

Her biggest problem was, tomorrow, she needed to show up at the DA's office and act like nothing happened.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Some surprise guestage and some C/E… there will be more later… trust me, it's just a long and winding road to get there!**

Casey caught a cab to work. She didn't trust herself on her bike or in her car. She locked her office door, hoping no one would bother her. If she could just get through this one day, she might be able to pretend like nothing happened. There was a loud rap on her office door before she had even had a chance to finish her first coffee of the day, which seemed unfair.

"Novak." She barked. The visitor tried the handle.

"Casey, it's Elliot."

Casey hopped up from her chair and opened the door. Elliot stalked in, closing the door behind him. He pulled Casey into a hug, she did her best not to whimper as he squeezed her against his chest. Elliot's overenthusiastic hugs usually made her feel abashed, comforted and only mildly crushed, but after Olivia, her battered body protested vehemently. Elliot loosened his grip, letting his hands rest on her hips.

"I tried calling you on Friday." He said softly. There was a strange look in his eyes. Suspicion.

"Sorry El, I went to bed right after Liv left…" Casey leaned up, trying to placate him with a kiss. Elliot didn't return it.

"Stop Casey." He said, firmly, "what happened on Friday?"

Casey was stunned, a rush of emotion swirling up in her throat, and tears threatened.

"Nothing." She insisted, but her voice came out a whisper. Elliot released her, hurt burning behind his blue eyes. Without warning, he tugged the collar of her blouse to the side, revealing a painful looking bite mark, still swollen on her collarbone.

He stifled a cynical laugh. "Godammit. You know, I didn't want to believe what Liv told me,"

Casey felt a rising panic, "W-what did Olivia say?"

"The truth." He growled, turning to leave.

"Elliot, it's not what it looks like, what did Liv say!" Casey was yelling despite herself, she was sure she could be heard in the adjoining hallway, but she didn't care.

"That she found you in bed with Alex Cabot." Elliot spat, breathing heavy through his nose, "I didn't want to believe it Case, I really didn't, but she told me. She told me about the marks. I had to see them for myself."

"Elliot, I swear, Liv's lying, I've not even seen Alex since, and besides, I'm not even…" Casey stammered out, not even sure where to begin.

"What the hell does Olivia stand to gain by lying about this, why would she make that up? Huh?" Elliot asked. He was furious, she could see that, but reigning it in well. His fists clenched at his sides. Casey just stood, slack jawed. What could she say? Olivia had raped her and was trying to cover it up with an equally outrageous cover story? Had Olivia raped her? Would Elliot believe her?

"Save it counsellor." Elliot growled, walking out the door and slamming it behind him, saving Casey the trouble of an explanation

************

Luckily, Casey was in court the rest of the day, keeping her mind occupied and her physical self away from Elliot or Olivia. She was coming out of her final arraignment for the day, weary and ready to hit her couch, when she spotted a familiar figure sitting on the benches outside of the judges chambers. Casey squinted, wondering if she was seeing things.

The blonde spotted Casey, straightened her trademark, thick-framed glasses, and made her way over. Casey was soldered to the floor with shock.

ADA Alexandra Cabot cocked an eyebrow at Casey's stunned expression "Novak, I think we need to talk."

************

Casey reluctantly agreed to coffee with the former SVU ADA, if only to satiate her curiosity. They went to a small, privately owned place near the courtrooms, where they could get some privacy, and where most of the local cops didn't stop to get their hourly fix off caffeine.

The last thing she needed was Elliot walking in on her and Cabot casually grabbing a Latte together at a nice little table for two, paying credence to Olivia's ridiculous claim. Casey was still dumbstruck, so Alex went to the counter, ordering them both tall cappuccinos.

"There you go, sprinkles and everything." Alex said, setting the tall glass in front of Casey. She looked down at the sprinkles sinking into the frothy cream topping. She was too distracted to even be disappointed that they were plain chocolate, not her preferred colourful kind.

"Alex, why are you here?" Casey asked, annoyed. She was not in the mood for small talk.

Alex shrugged, "I heard I was screwing you so I thought I better pay a visit and check out what I'm getting a piece of."

Casey frowned.

Alex smirked, "Well, going more blonde was a good choice counsellor, but I'm afraid you're still not my type. No offence." Casey pulled her most un-entertained expression and was glad to see Alex's expression wash serious.

"All right, here it is, I got a call from an extremely pissed off Elliot Stabler this afternoon, muttering something about my sleeping with you, and how he thought he could trust me, how he'd kept it from Liv that I'd found someone else, then I go and do this to him. He hung up before I could deny anything." Alex wove her slim fingers together on the table. "Do you know where he would get such an idea from?"

Casey stirred her coffee idly, "Elliot told me the same thing this morning. He said…" Casey had to take a deep breath before saying her name. "He said Olivia told him that."

Alex leant forward, "Any idea why she would say that?"

Casey started to chew her bottom lip, then immediately stopped. The sensation reminded her too much of Olivia.

"You know what, I have no idea, maybe it's her idea of a joke, I better get going," Casey was about to get up when Alex grabbed her sleeve.

"Hey, Casey, this is not a laughing matter. If Elliot tells Alex, how am I supposed to explain it? He has no reason to lie about it."

Casey creased her brows in confusion at Alex's referencing herself in the third person. "Alex, I've had enough of people being illogical today, first my boyfriend accuses me of a lesbian affair when I'm straight and didn't even know you were back in the city, then…

Alex cut in, "I meant my girlfriend Alex. Alex Eames, she's a detective in the major case squad. We met when I was covering for their ADA a few months ago. I'm sorry, it confuses everyone."

"Oh."

"Now, what I want to know is, why would Olivia lie about that?"

Alex stared at her intensely. Casey let her guard slip a little.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She said softly.

Alex took off her glasses and laid them on the table, "Case," she said, her voice uncharacteristically gentle She took hold of one of Casey's hands which were resting on the table, "I know that look in your eyes. I've seen it in a mirror. And if I'm right, then maybe I'm the only person who would believe you."

Casey blinked fast but couldn't stop tears from beginning to trickle down her cheeks.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: thank you to all who are reading and reviewing, you are all made of fantastic-ness (I am aware that is not a legitimate adjective). Just a small warning, Alex Eames may seem a little OOC to criminal intent fans when she appears in this because A: I don't watch much criminal intent, and B: She doesn't appear to have much of a character when she is in it… don't worry though, she's only popping in briefly!**

Alex felt like an icicle stuck through her heart as she watched the younger woman break down. She wanted to scoot around to the other side of the booth and throw her arms around her, but what she had to do was much harder. She steadied herself. Pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I loved Olivia," she started. It felt like her tongue was sticking to the top of her mouth. She had never told anyone about this. Not even Alex. "And uh…for the longest time, I made excuses." She squeezed her eyes shut.

"One night, Olivia came to my apartment, I was already in bed. She climbed in, and she was…in the mood. I wasn't. I told her, but she wouldn't stop. I yelled at her, but then she got rough. She held me down, and she…she raped me." The word hung in the air. She felt Casey's hands tense in hers "She apologised, and I was so confused, and I loved her so much. I let it go. That's how it started, but every time after, I blamed myself. I had no one to turn to, I mean, rapists are supposed to be men, and rape victims are supposed to be woman, or occasionally men, right? That's how all support works. Hell, that's how the law works. No one even considers the possibility that it might go a different way ."

"Alex, I never knew that," Alex put a hand up.

"Please Casey, let me finish. How many times have we both said this to victims, just because I was in love with her, and just because she is your friend, that didn't mean what she did wasn't rape. Rape isn't about love or sex, it's about power, and the abuse of it. There aren't any gender boundaries on that."

************

Casey knew Alex was right. "Olivia didn't rape me." She ground out.

"Casey, no matter how much you hate yourself right now because you think you let this happen, trust me, you will hate yourself a lot more if you let it happen to someone else because you're too proud to admit that you were raped."

Casey narrowed her eyes at Alex, "Like you did." She shot, venomously. Alex cast her gaze down to the table, a curtain of blonde hair shielding her face. Casey immediately wished she could take it back. "I'm sorry Alex, I didn't mean that."

"No. You're right. But I'm not letting you make the same mistake. Come on." Suddenly, Alex was on her feet and by her side.

Casey creased her brow. "Where are we going?" She asked, even as she followed the other Lawyer. She didn't know what Alex had planned, but she was just glad Alex had taken charge of the situation. And that she finally had an ally.

"True or false, Olivia has a key to your apartment?"

Casey nodded "True."

"Then you're staying at mine and Alex's place until we can figure out how we can prosecute this."

Casey shook her head, "Alex, zero physical evidence, a rare crime, my word against that of a decorated officers? Hell, even I'm not that good."

Alex smiled as Casey's attempt to lighten the mood, "I'm not getting into a pissing contest with you Novak."

"Is that because you'd lose?" Casey asked, finally cracking a smile.

"Thanks Casey, I was beginning to forget why I hated you. Always have to throw that 71 percent success rate in the rest of our faces."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with taking pride in your work."

"Agreed," Alex concurred, "but there's taking pride, and there's being an asshole, actually, speaking of assholes, I better call your boyfriend…" Alex took her phone from her pocket and began to dial.

"No!" Casey said, on the spur of the moment deciding to appropriate Alex's cell phone. They had managed to walk to outside the courthouse, where Alex had left her car.

"Hey, larceny!" Alex said. Casey returned her phone sheepishly. Alex shook her head, getting into the car and inviting Casey into the passenger seat.

"You know you'll have to tell him eventually." Alex said as she started the car. "Better to rip of the band aid."

"Olivia's already lied to him, and he believes her." Casey said. She shuddered as she remembered his face in her office earlier.

"I'm guessing Liv gave you more than just those little hickey's. Maybe when he sees that you've had the shit beat out of you, he'll be more inclined to believe you."

************

Casey suddenly became fascinated with her own footwear. Alex had struck a nerve. Involuntarily, Alex's mind flashed back to her own body those years back. The bruises, bites, cuts. The couple of cracked ribs when she'd tried to leave. She pushed the images to the back of her mind. It was much, much easier if she made this all about Casey.

"Are you talking from experience?" Casey asked, throwing Alex's own tactic back at her. Disassociating from the crime. They couldn't both do it.

"No. I saw the bruises on your wrists." Alex lied. This was Alex's crusade, her redemption. She had brought this on Casey with her own cowardice, and she'd be damned if she let Casey carry the weight of it.

They finished the rest of the car ride in silence.

************

Alex Cabot left Casey in the care of her diminutive detective girlfriend and set out to collect Stabler, under the guise of collecting takeout, to avoid Casey bolting whilst she was away. Elliot's apartment wasn't far, so she wouldn't arouse much suspicion. She rapped on the door loudly. Elliot opened in nearly immediately.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. At least he had calmed down. Earlier, when he had called her, he had been shouting like a mad man.

"Elliot, if I wasn't so opposed to violence I would slap you right now. I did not sleep with your girlfriend, and I'm offended that you'd even think that I would."

"Did you come all the way over here just to get that off your chest?" He asked, leaning on the door frame.

"No, I came here to collect your Irish ass, take you back to my apartment so that you can apologise to a woman, who for reasons that presently escape me, is crazy about you, and has just had what is probably the worst experience of her life, compounded by the fact that her boyfriend is a jackass who didn't even give her a chance to explain herself." Alex was out of breath. Elliot nodded.

"Go back to your apartment, I'll be there in five, I just need to collect something first."

Even Alex was surprised at her argumentative skills. "Um. Ok. Good. We're getting Chinese."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: In a hurry, so thanks for reading and reviewing, etc, I'll put up the next chapter in a little bit once I've wrote it!**

Elliot closed his door and walked back into the living room, flopping down onto his favourite armchair.

"Are you going to go?" Olivia asked from the sofa.

"Liv, when you went to Casey's apartment, what did you see? Don't spare any details."

Olivia got up from the sofa and began to pace. "Casey was flustered when she answered the door. I knew she was hiding something. She let me in, reluctantly. I apologised for yelling at her, but she was distracted and eager for me to leave. I was about to go, when Alex sauntered out of her bedroom."

"Is there any way you could have misjudged the situation?" Elliot asked, "maybe she was just staying over."

Olivia scoffed, "Sure El, she was just having a big ADA sleepover. I'll bet the only reason I didn't see Carmichael was because she was back in Casey's room waiting for her nail polish to dry."

Elliot sighed. "Maybe she was acting suspicious cause she knew you'd be pissed that she was hanging around with your ex."

"How do you explain the marks on her neck then?" Olivia asked. She had a point. But Elliot's stomach had been knotting ever since that morning. He had never seen Casey look so scared, and he had seen her face down plenty scarier things than a cheated on partner. Slowly, he got to his feet. He needed to hear it from Casey. He grabbed his coat.

"I'll be back soon." He said, walking out the door.

************

Casey glanced back over the couch to see Alex re-enter, empty handed.

"Didn't you go to get takeout?" She asked.

Alex froze. "Shit. Never mind, I think they deliver."

Casey was suspicious now. "Where did you go then?"

Eames emerged from the kitchen, "Casey, we have to be understanding of those more blonde than ourselves."

Both Alex's joined Casey on the couch. Eames had picked up a Chinese takeaway menu. "This place is pretty good." She said.

"Seriously Alex, where did you go?" Casey pressed, more insistently. She didn't like the guilty look Alex had shot her when she asked the first time.

"Drop it Casey." She warned. Eames looked between the two women, confused.

"Alright, I was trying to be cool with this, but this is getting too weird, what the hell is going on here?" Eames said standing up. She stood, casting her eyes back and forward between the two lawyers. Alex sighed.

"I'll explain over dinner."

************

Ten minutes later, the doorbell buzzed.

"I'll get it!" Eames announced, and before Alex could stop her, she flung the door open. "Hey, you're not Chinese."

"Very observant Detective." Elliot said. Eames shrugged and stepped out of the way, letting Elliot enter the apartment.

"Welcome to Chez Alex." She said.

"Elliot?" Casey said, then she turned to Alex, "that's where you went."

"Yes, you two need to talk, no arguments." Alex got up and ushered Elliot to the couch. Casey nudged up to the edge of the couch, putting a space between them.

Both remained silent. Alex stood in front of them. Finally, Casey spoke.

"Elliot, I didn't sleep with Alex."

"Okay," Elliot said, still not looking at Casey "explain those marks then."

Casey couldn't help it. Tears began to fall. She hated how this had turned her into such a baby. Olivia hadn't just violated her body, she had taken something else. She put her hands in her face choking as her tears gave way to full on, violent, wracking sobs. She felt Elliot's hand on her shoulder.

"Casey, what happened." He asked, his voice was laced with fear now. She felt his body move closer. Instinctively, she pulled away. "Casey, you're scaring me now…"

Casey gained enough control to speak again, "Elliot, I…I always thought I would fight it harder,"

Elliot looked up to Alex, "please tell me she isn't trying to tell me what I think she is?" Alex realised why Casey hadn't wanted to tell Elliot. She could see the pain and desperation in his face. The words stuck in her throat.

"I was raped." Casey blurted out.

************

Elliot felt like someone had let off a nuclear warhead in his gut. He had called Casey, he was going to see her. The he fell asleep. He was a-fucking-sleep while his girlfriend was being raped.

He was going to kill him.

He was going to kill that son of a bitch, that was decided, he was going to kill him, take him to the hospital, get him resuscitated, then he'd kill him all over again. He felt his hands turn into fists so tight his nails dug sharply into his palms. This was the nightmare that kept him awake at night, and suddenly, it was real. It made sense now, Casey's nerves when Olivia had visited. The marks on her body, Casey had called Alex around for safety. She had probably been too ashamed to call him or Olivia. The pieces started to fit. All the pictures of rape victims, their injuries, personal and vicious, scarred into his brain no matter how hard he tried to forget, remain numb, suddenly they all had Casey's face on them.

"Who did it?" Elliot said. His voice was a rumble and his whole body was shaking. "I'm going to kill him," he promised, he began to babble, "did you get a rape kit done? Was it someone you know? We're going to nail this bastard, I'll break his neck…"

"It wasn't a he…" Casey managed. He looked at Casey, confused. She had stopped crying now, and was just staring blankly at the wall. He caught a glimpse of her wrists, bruised and scuffed. The bastard had used handcuffs. He felt another wave of rage wash over him and he had to focus, to ensure he didn't turn the coffee table in front of him over.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"It was Olivia." Casey said. Elliot's head began to spin. He got up abruptly, storming out the door. He couldn't process this. He felt drunk as he stumbled down the stairs of the Alex's apartment building. He couldn't understand. He needed a moment alone.

************

Alex chased Elliot as fast as she could. But he was moving fast, easily outstripping her for speed with his long stride. She called after him, but was pretty sure he couldn't hear anything.

By the time she caught up with him in the alley by the apartments, she heard a violent bang, and another, and another.

"Elliot!" She called again, as she rounded the corner to find Elliot in a one-sided punch-up with a big yellow metal dumpster. His fists pounded into the side of the metal waste receptacle, leaving massive dents in his wake. She yelled at the top of her voice, "stop!" Elliot halted his assault on the dumpster. Breathing heavily, he stared at Alex.

"What do I do Alex? If this was a guy, I'd kill him, but Liv? Why would she do that? How?" Tears glistened in his blue eyes and his face was blood red.

"I know it's hard to believe Elliot, but trust me. I know. Olivia did this."

Realization dawned on Elliot, he stepped closer to Alex, "but you, and Liv, you were…"

"Didn't you wonder why I never came back after I came out of the WPP? I never had the courage to leave, but that forced me to. And once I had some time alone, I finally managed to admit to myself that I was in an abusive relationship."

Elliot took Alex's hands, "I never realized…"

Alex sighed, "No one ever suspects it. If I had boyfriend, and came to work with bruises and lame-ass excuses people would be jumping all over me to leave him. But cause I had a girlfriend, everyone just assumes that doesn't happen."

"I'm so sorry," Elliot said

"I'm not the one you need to apologise to." Alex said, turning her back on him. She didn't need him to see her cry. She could hear him following as she made her way back to her apartment.

************

Casey had pulled her knees up to her chest and let the tears fall freely. Eames had tried to comfort her, but Casey couldn't stomach it. She had swatted her away. She absently heard Elliot and Alex re-enter the apartment, then felt the chair depress next to her. She glanced up to see Elliot sitting next to her.

She felt him wrap an arm around her she tried to push him off, but he didn't let her. Resisting her protests, he scooped Casey's folded form onto his lap, pressing her head against his chest and whispering 'shushes' into her copper hair as she cried. In a few minutes, her sobs had stopped, and her breathing settled down to a slow rhythmic pattern and she fell asleep, her body thoroughly exhausted.

************

The Alex's had rejoined Elliot in the living room. Casey was sleeping peacefully while Elliot cradled her.

"Alex, could you pass me my jacket?" He said quietly, so as not to wake her "I have something in there for Case." He said both Alex's looked at him quizzically he had to stifle a laugh, "either Alex." Alex Cabot rose and tossed Elliot his jacket, forgetting he had Casey in his lap. She woke up mumbling as Elliot quickly took the coat off her head.

Casey glanced around the room then slid herself off Elliot's lap, looking a little self conscious.

"I got something for you," Elliot said, reaching into his coat pocket, and producing a large, rattling jar.

"Rainbow sprinkles?" Casey asked, accepting the jar. "This doesn't make us even you know."

"Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how hard those are to find?" Casey looked sceptical, so he added. "I had to trade the twins for that!"

Alex Cabot smiled "Sounds like a good deal to me."

Eames elbowed Alex. "This one hates kids. I tried talking her around to the idea, but eventually I decided to just switch out her birth control for placebos. Only a matter of time now." Elliot laughed. Casey and Alex just looked at each other, confused by the biological inaccuracy of the statement.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I'm so glad someone (WelcomeToNYC) spotted the reference to the Diane Neal quote! Hope the whole two Alex's thing isn't too confusing, I couldn't resist!**

**Anyway, without further ado, chapter 11:**

Casey wasn't sure why she hadn't thought of it earlier. She emptied her third glass of wine and smiled as she felt the room lurch unsteadily beneath her.

"Steady on Novak," Eames smiled, even as she refilled Casey's glass. She downed it in one. Getting drunk was an excellent way of dealing with problems (or at least forgetting them for a little while), and no one seemed to have the heart to tell her to stop. Casey wasn't normally a big drinker, but she felt fully justified in this instance.

Alex leaned over to Elliot, who was next to Casey, his arm wrapped around her shoulders and whispered, "I think C-A-S-E-Y needs to go to B-E-D."

Casey gave an exaggerated frown. "Hey! I may be drunk, but I can still shpell."

"Yeah, you just can't shpeak!" Eames mocked.

"Hey!" Casey launched a cushion from the sofa at Eames, who ducked, causing it to smack Alex in the face, dislodging her glasses.

"Thanks for that Al." Alex said, replacing her glasses.

"Oh! Taking down one of your own kind, that's gotta be treason!" Eames announced, clearly tipsy.

"Come on Casey," Elliot said, standing up and easily gathering Casey into his arms, "time to go." She let out a girly whoop. "Anyone care to give directions?" He asked the Alex's.

"Oh, right. The guest room is just down the hall." Cabot pointed toward a door.

Once in the room, Elliot deposited Casey gently on the bed. "Here you go." He said. Before he could lean up, Casey took hold of his shirt collar, lightly tugging him back down, pressing a kiss to his lips. He smiled.

"So I'm forgiven?" He asked. Casey just kissed him again, longer this time.

"Not yet," She smiled, starting work on Elliot's shirt buttons.

"Hey, hey," He said, taking hold of her hands, "I don't think that's a good idea right now." He backed away from the bed. Casey got up, a little unsteady on her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Don't worry about me El, it's fine. I'm fine." She leant up began to kiss him again. With her body pressed against him, and her hands roaming under his shirt, he wanted to believe her. At least his body did. But his mind definitely didn't.

"Casey, you're pissed, and when you wake up tomorrow, you're going to realize that."

"I don't care," Casey said, sleepily, her green eyes artificially shiny.

"I'm sorry baby, I can't do this." He said sadly, "go to bed, and I'll see you in the morning." He placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. Casey backed up and sat on the bed, staring at the floor.

"You don't want me." She said, her lower lip starting trembling.

"Casey, baby, of course I want you." Elliot said. He brushed a tear off her reddened cheek. "Just not right now. Please, get some sleep."

It took all his restraint to walk out of the bedroom without looking back.

************

When Elliot re-entered the living room, Eames was gone and Alex was sat on the couch, nursing a glass of water.

"Casey asleep?" Alex asked. Elliot sat down next to her, letting out a sigh which seemed to radiate from his feet up through his entire body.

"No, she uh…she wanted me to sleep with her." Elliot said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Maybe you should." Alex shrugged. "She might feel a little safer."

"I don't mean just share a bed." Elliot clarified.

"Oh."

"It's not like we haven't before, but I just think it's a little too soon for that, don't you?" Elliot asked.

"Hey, I'm not going to tell you whether or not to sleep with your girlfriend, but, people deal with things in different ways. Maybe she just needs reassurance that she's not…tainted in some way." Alex said.

"I think she's drunk." Elliot said.

"Elliot, trust me, go back in there. I'm not saying you have to have sex with her, play it by ear. Its just that the nights are the worst. I don't think she should be alone."

Elliot pinned her with a hard stare, "Alex, are you talking from experience here?"

Alex got up and headed for her own bedroom, "Elliot, go and look after her." She said, before closing the door.

************

When Alex got to her room, Eames was still awake.

"Hey chicken, what kept you?" Eames asked, petting the bed next to her.

Alex rolled her eyes and began to undress, "Elliot. He's a little clueless sometimes," She tossed her blouse and grey suit jacket into the laundry, along with her skirt, replacing them with a vest and pair of short shorts.

"Hell, I don't blame the guy, I don't know if I'd know what to do if my girlfriend had been raped." Eames admitted.

"Lucky for you, you'll never have to find out." Alex said. Her tone convinced even herself. "Now scooch, you know that's my side of the bed."

Eames shuffled over to the other side and Alex climbed in.

"Night." Eames said, leaning over to kiss her. Alex returned the kiss and immediately turned onto her side, facing the wall so Eames knew there was nothing else on the table for tonight. The detective just yawned and turned the bedside light out, snuggling under the duvet. Alex lay awake in the dark, willing morning to come.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: All right, sorry if this is a bit rushed, I like to write fast, before ideas go out of my head! Thanks to all the people reading and reviews, you are still made of awesome!**

Elliot sat on the couch for a few minutes after Alex had left before entering the guest bedroom. He made sure to do so noisily, the last thing Casey needed was to be surprised by a dark figure suddenly looming over her bed. Casey was still awake, with the light on, fully dressed but curled up on the bed. Cautiously, he climbed onto the bed next to her, and curled his body around hers in a spoon position. He felt her lean back against him.

"Hey baby," He said softly, pecking her on the cheek.

"I'm sorry Elliot, I shouldn't have tried to…"

He cut her off, "Casey listen to me, you have nothing to be sorry about, nothing." He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer still, nuzzling against her neck.

"That tickles!" She protested, even as she tilted her head, giving him better access. He tenderly kissed the sore looking bite marks, working his way down to the big one on her exposed collarbone. She slowly freed herself, rolling over to face him.

"Elliot. I think I love you," She sighed. He opened his mouth to reply. But she covered it, "but I'm a little drunk right now, so don't quote me on it."

"All right." Elliot said, pulling her closer giving her a quick kiss.

"All right." Casey repeated, giving him a slightly more lingering kiss.

"If we're gonna do this, we're gonna go slow. If you get scared, or anything hurts, tell me to stop." Elliot said, stroking her cheek.

"I trust you." Casey whispered.

************

She rolled onto her back and watched as Elliot leaned over her cautiously. She wondered how someone could be so close without exerting any weight on her whatsoever. He delicately began to remove her suit jacket, which she was still wearing from being in court earlier in the day, kissing her with painstaking softness. She saw his thick brows furrow at the bruising on her wrists and arms. Casey distracted him with a long kiss as she quickly finished unbuttoning his shirt. He cast it off onto the floor and relieved Casey of her skirt, and himself of his jeans then, climbing back on top of her, he took hold of the hem of her vest and started to pull it up. Nervously, Casey grabbed his hands,

"Hey El, can I leave that on?" She begged. The vest hid the bulk of her injuries, including the ones she made herself which, unlike the ones on her arms, couldn't be passed off as scratches from Olivia. She wasn't ready for him to see that yet. Elliot immediately released her vest.

"Of course,"

Elliot was gentle and tentative, and Casey was surprised to find that his hands, which she had previously compared unfavourably to paws, could be so tender. It seemed like hours before he was cautiously pushing her legs apart.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Elliot asked, his breath heavy, but his eyes troubled. Casey was scared, but she needed to do this. Like Alex had said, rape was about power. And Casey wasn't going to let Olivia have any sort of power over her.

"Yes." She said.

Elliot entered her slowly, but she still couldn't suppress the whimper that escaped her lips as he did. Olivia had been rough, and her abused body protested, sending sharp waves of pain out from her centre.

"Casey?" Elliot looked alarmed, "am I hurting you?"

"No," She lied, bracing herself as he continued, it got easier after a while and soon she was lost in the moment.

************

Elliot fell asleep quickly, a heavy arm draped protectively over her stomach. Once he started to snore, Casey carefully extracted herself from the bed, putting on his massive shirt over her vest before stealing out to the balcony through the living room. She shivered a little, and wished she had thought to go home to grab some of her own stuff, including her favourite bathrobe, which sheltered against even the chilliest breeze.

Casey had always seen rape as being like a stone cast into still waters, the ripples from it affecting many people besides the assailant and victim. The strange thing for Casey was being that stone, and everyone around her was suffering the ripple effect.

Alex was having to confront her past.

Elliot was having to deal with being scared to death of hurting her, but being desperate to help her all the same.

The other Alex was having to put up with not knowing what the hell was going on, but still trying to support her girlfriend.

And Casey was there in the centre, sinking to the bottom of the pond.

Just as she had lit her cigarette, she heard the sliding door of the balcony open and she was joined by Eames.

"Casey, you bad girl," She admonished, pointing at Casey's cigarette, "enjoying a post-coital smoke?"

Casey nodded, "yeah, actually."

Eames slapped her gently on the back, "All right Novak, way to get back on the horse!" Casey frowned at her complete lack of tact. Eames looked a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, there's a reason I work in a department where all my vics are dead. And I didn't mean Elliot is a horse. It was more of an analogy, with sex being the…"

"Stop digging Detective." Casey said, almost laughing.

"Good idea. Sorry. Hey, think I could bum a cigarette?"

"I didn't know you smoked." Casey said, offering Eames the packet.

"I don't anymore, Alex hates it," Eames explained, taking one from the box and lighting it, letting out a breath with a satisfied sigh. "But one won't hurt. And I won't tell if you don't."

"Deal." Casey replied.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Not much happens in this chapter, but its needed to set up for the next one…**

Casey had managed to get back into bed without waking Elliot, and fallen asleep laid on his chest at first. During the night though, nightmares plagues her, and Elliot had woken up to find her shivering through violent sobs several times during the night, but he hushed her and got her back sleep once she realized where she was and stopped apologising profusely for waking him/being like this/getting tears on him.

When morning finally came though, he found himself alone. He found his clothes in a neat, folded pile at the end of the bed.

Once dressed, he exited the bedroom, eventually finding Eames making pancakes in the kitchen.

"Morning," She greeted "I'm making pancakes!""I see," Elliot yawned, "where's Casey?"

"Alex is lending her a fresh Lawyer suit. Luckily, they're both amazons." She said, deftly tossing a pancake into the air, flipping a few times in the air before landing precisely back in the pan.

"Impressive." Elliot said.

"It's way easier than it looks," She reassured him.

************

Casey sat on Alex's bed, with her arms crossed, as Alex held up another suit.

"How's this one?"

"Do you own anything that isn't grey, black or white?" Casey asked, unimpressed by Alex's wardrobe choices.

"Hey, not all of us like to be the only Prosecutor visible from outer space." Alex mocked.

"I spend all my time in suits, sometimes I just like a little variety." Casey frowned. There was a knock at the door.

"You ladies decent in there?" Elliot called.

"Yes." Both called simultaneously. Elliot popped his head in first, then his body quickly followed. He perched next to Casey on the bed, smiling when she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Are you sure she's up to work today?" Elliot asked Alex as Casey shook her head at another suit which fell into the monochrome spectrum.

"_She__'__s _sitting right here, and is quite capable of speaking for herself," Casey frowned, "I'll be fine."

"Ok Casey, I'm just worried about you." He said.

"I know," she sighed, getting off the bed "I'm gonna take a shower, just leave whatever you want on the bed Alex."

Alex nodded, depositing a grey tailored jacket and skirt along with a crisp white blouse onto the bed. The outfit almost exactly matched what Alex was presently wearing. She and Elliot exited the room, leaving Casey to get ready. Before she could make her way into the kitchen, Elliot stopped her.

"Alex, I need to talk to you."

"Oh god, did Alex convince you to try and toss a pancake? It's really not as easy as she makes it look, and we've only just repainted the ceiling!"

Elliot sighed, "It's not about that. Although she did. Sorry about your ceiling." His face looked serious.

"All right." She said, reluctantly following Elliot out onto the balcony.

************

The sun was still rising, this early in the year spring still hadn't quite set in. Elliot stared off into the distance, waiting until he heard Alex slide the patio door shut.

"Alex, I did something stupid." He said.

"Is this about last night?" Alex asked.

"Yeah." Elliot nodded.

"Don't beat yourself up about it Elliot, Casey isn't mad with you, in fact she's…"

"Not that, before that. Before you came over to mine." Elliot said, still keeping his eyes focused on the horizon, "I was really upset when Liv told me about you and Casey. Now I have no idea how I'm going to explain this to her."

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked.

"Alex, I don't want you to be mad with me, I just really need your help…"

"Elliot, if you go to my office, the name on the door reads Alex Cabot, not Dr. Phil. I'm not here to resolve your relationship problems, I only brought you here because I thought Casey needed you. And if you hurt her again, after what she's been through, you're gone. Okay?" Alex asked, hands on hips. Elliot just nodded mutely. "Good." Alex snapped, and stormed back into the living room.

************

Alex hadn't meant to be so short with Elliot, but she was at the end of her tether. She had gotten less than two hours of uninterrupted sleep and she had enough secrets to keep in without Elliot landing another one on her. She fixed her best neutral expression on and joined Eames in the kitchen to help out with breakfast. She needed desperately to keep her mind on something other than her entire world being blown apart all over again.

************

Casey showered with her eyes shut. She didn't need to see the marks on her body again, she didn't need a reminder. She knew she was going to make them all late for work, but despite herself, she couldn't get out of the shower. She washed over and over. Her head still pounded from too much wine last night. This wasn't in anyway going to be a good morning.

************

Alex Cabot drove them all to work, dropping Eames and Elliot at their respective precincts, before taking Casey to the DA's office. She had some work to do, so had left Casey in her office while she went back to her own.

At around eleven in the morning, she made her way over to Casey's office. Once she arrived, she entered without knocking, and was surprised to find not Casey, but Abbie Carmichael.

"Long time no see Alex." Abbie smiled from behind Casey's desk.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Yeah, I'm using other L&O characters… I can never be bothered to invent original characters, plus it takes too long to introduce them, so yeah…Thanks for reading and reviewing, always nice to hear what people think of the story!**

"Great to see you too, what brings you here?" Alex asked, puzzled. She took the seat across from Abbie.

"Casey called me in. Then she went out for coffee." Abbie shrugged, "she said it was pretty urgent, so I thought, hey, why not? Hey, did you have this nice of an office when you were the SVU ADA? I sure didn't."

Alex was still confused, when the phone started to ring. Abbie hit speaker phone.

"Casey Novak's office." She answered.

"It's Captain Cragen. Where's Novak?" Abbie looked around.

"She's not here just at the moment, this is Abbie Carmichael. Is there a message you want me to pass on?"

"Can you please tell her I need to…" Just then, Casey entered with three coffees and froze when she heard the captains voice.

"…see her in my office as soon as poss…"

"If that's a message from Cragen, can you return it and tell him he can fuck off." Casey said angrily, placing the coffees down on her desk. Abbie and Alex winced.

"You can tell him yourself counsellor. I'm afraid he's on speaker phone." Abbie said.

Casey's eyes widened at the phone, "Oh shit."

"I heard that too. My office, now. No questions." He rung off sharply.

"Thanks for the heads up." Casey scowled, evicting Abbie from her chair.

"Not like you gave us much of a chance." Abbie shrugged, joining Alex on the other side of the desk. "So anyhow, what did you need me for?"

"I need you to try a case." Casey said, sifting through some paperwork on her desk, searching for a misplaced document.

"What is it that neither the A.C. or the Casey can handle?" Abbie asked.

"Yeah Casey, I'm still an ADA, I can try the case." Alex said, not liking where this was going.

"No you can't," Casey said, "because we're going to need to call you as a witness."

"The hell you are!" Alex snapped, "there is no need for me to testify, Abbie, you can go back to your office…"

"We barely have a case here, your testimony is the only chance we have of proving that…"

"No, this is not open to debate." Alex interrupted.

Casey stood up, "So what, everything you said last night about being brave, and not letting pride get in the way of justice, that was a load of bull?"

Abbie jumped up, "all right, as much fun as it is always fun watching two lawyers duke it out, one of you two needs to tell me what's going on or I'm walking."

Alex and Casey both turned to Abbie just as the door opened. Casey's boss, Jack McCoy stood in the doorway.

"Casey, a word?"

"Just a minute guys," Casey said, stepping out of her office and closing the door.

"You know darling, I don't mind you having friends around, but they have offices too…" He started sarcastically.

"It's for a case." Casey explained.

"Really? Which one?" McCoy asked with a degree of scepticism.

"Uh, I've not filed it yet. We're not sure whether to take it to court."

"Well excuse me, but isn't that supposed to be my job?"

"Yeah, it'll be on your desk by the end of today." Casey said. "So. What did I do?"

"I was hoping you could explain that," McCoy said, crossing his arms. "Cragen called, he wants your ass on a plaque."

"We've just had a few disagreements lately…"

"Try to make nice with him Casey, I'd hate to have to transfer you."

"As a matter of a fact, I was just headed over to the precinct."

"Good. Kiss some ass, I'm getting tired of his phone calls. And break up the sorority until after hours, I don't want their bosses getting on my case when they find out they're missing.""Yes sir." Casey nodded and headed back into her office.

************

Casey evicted the other lawyers from her office, promising to reconvene after hours and headed over to the precinct.

Once there, Casey felt like her heart was beating against her breast bone. Going to the precinct meant seeing Olivia again for the first time since Friday. She held her breath outside the door.

Eye focused ahead on Cragen's office door, she steamed through the bullpen without stopping until she slammed his office door behind her.

Cragen looked surprised by her dramatic entry, "sit Casey." He seemed sombre. Casey looked at his certificates and pictures on the wall and couldn't help but imagine what it would look like if her ass on a plaque joined them.

"I prefer to stand." she said, coolly.

"Casey, I'm not going to yell at you, please sit down." He seemed genuine. Casey reluctantly took a seat. "Can you explain this?" He asked, placing a half-empty bottle of Whisky on the desk.

"Looks like a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels to me."

"Can you tell me why when one of my detectives went up to your office this morning to pick up some paperwork they left there, they found this in your desk?" Cragen asked.

"Which Detective? Olivia by any chance."

"Casey, that's not important."

Casey got to her feet, "that is not mine."

"Casey, it makes sense, you've been distracted, your temper, these last few weeks you've practically lived in your office, the detectives can't get you into the precinct without a fight,"

"Don, I'm not an alcoholic."

"Come on, you're hung over right now!"

Casey couldn't deny that.

"I'm not having this conversation." She decided "if you have a problem with me, take it up with the DA's Office."

Cragen looked up at her with sad eyes. "I'm not going to do that. I know this is a stressful job. It takes it's toll on you after a while. I'll give you some time, but it's better to deal with it now than later. I'll be waiting when you're ready to talk about it."

"I'll keep that in mind." Casey said, leaving his office.

************

As she made her way through the bullpen, keeping her imaginary blinkers on, she felt a hand catch her wrist. She turned and found herself face-to-face with Olivia.

"Hey Casey, where's the fire?" Olivia asked nonchalantly.

Casey glanced imploringly at Elliot, who was still at his desk. He gave her a barely perceptible shrug. There wasn't anything he could do, on the car ride to the precinct, Casey and Alex had decided it would be best if Elliot played dumb until they decided how to proceed. They didn't want to tip Olivia off.

"I gotta run, I've got a ton of work to do." Casey said. She kept her face straight as Olivia squeezed her wrist with a crushing grip, keeping a friendly grin on her face the whole time.

"Ok, I'll need to pop over to your office in a few hours, I need your help with something." Olivia released her grip. Casey forced a smile.

************

True to her word, Olivia arrived at Casey's two hours later, two coffees in hand. Casey couldn't help herself.

"Coffee? Damn, I was hoping for a nice bourbon or scotch."

Olivia smiled, taking the seat across from Casey. "Oh, you liked that did you?" She offered Casey the coffee.

"Thanks, have you spiked it with Rohypnol?" Casey asked sardonically.

"Oh come on Casey, I don't need a date rape drug, you know that." Olivia smiled smugly, taking a sip of her own coffee.

"Of course not, just a standard issue firearm and a pair of cuffs."

"I didn't need those with Elliot last night." Olivia said, beaming brightly.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Kinda run out of things to say fifteen chapters in…**

Casey was surprised for a moment, then ventured, "you're lying."

"Oh god, I wish I was." Olivia said, making herself comfortable in Casey's spare chair, "if I'm honest, it just reminded me why I turned in the first place."

"You're lying," Casey repeated, less certain this time. She had looked into the eyes of hundreds of perps in court. After a while, you learnt to spot tells, deception. She wasn't seeing any of that with Olivia.

"Believe what you want." Olivia shrugged.

"I will." Casey said, "now if there's nothing else, as your Captain will no doubt confirm, I've got an afternoon of binge drinking and homophobia ahead of me and I'm raring to go…"

"I know it's all an act Casey." Olivia sighed.

"What?"

"This whole, 'I'm a tough little lawyer and I'm not scared of you crap.' Come on, you practically pissed yourself when yourself when I grabbed your wrist in the precinct!"

"I'm sorry, alcoholism can affect your bladder control." Casey shot back. Olivia stood up abruptly and swept a stack of papers and a few binders off her desk onto the floor. Casey blinked, but didn't let her surprise show. She could see the rage building in Olivia's eyes.

"Come here." She ordered. Casey remained seated. Olivia stormed around to Casey's side of the desk and she couldn't help it, she jumped up out of her chair and backed up against the wall. Olivia grinned. "That's more like it." She said, stalking up to Casey with menacing glee.

"Olivia, get away from me." Casey said, voice getting shaky. Olivia moved closer, until their noses were nearly touching.

************

Elliot arrived back in the precinct with lunch to find his partner gone.

"Where's Liv?" He asked Munch, who was sitting nearby.

"She went to Casey's office. Needed a subpoena or something. She shouldn't have too much trouble, I went over there this morning and it looked like Casey was holding an ADA convention."

"Did she say anything else before she left?" Elliot asked, already pulling on his jacket.

"No, but I think we should seriously consider getting our ADA spayed. I swear they're breeding in there."

************

"Changed our tune haven't we now?" Olivia smiled. She placed one hand on Casey's neck, holding her against the wall. Olivia was enjoying this. "Now, if you say please and apologise for your attitude, I might just let you go." Casey jutted her chin out defiantly, still trying to affect an unconcerned look. Her eyes were glistening though. She was close.

"I'm not scared of you." Casey said unconvincingly. Olivia slid her free hand down the front of Casey's skirt, slipping her fingers under her panties.

"Really?"

"Please don't," Casey began to whine, her body was trembling. This was too easy.

"Aw, I thought you weren't scared?"

************

Casey's body was frozen. She couldn't believe she'd let herself get into this situation again. And again she couldn't do anything. It was going to happen all over. Right there in her own office.

Just then, there was an urgent knock on the door.

"Casey!" Elliot called from the other side.

"Looks like lover boy's here," Olivia said, still not relinquishing her grip. She squeezed the hand on Casey's throat a little tighter. "You're going to sit down and shut up. Got that?" Casey nodded. "Good girl." Olivia winked, pecking Casey's lips before releasing her. Casey quickly got back into her chair and Olivia let Elliot in.

"Hey Liv," He said, ignoring her and staring straight at Casey.

"I got what I needed now," Olivia said, looking pointedly at Casey, "so I'm gonna scoot." Olivia shut the door behind her, and Elliot rushed around to crouch next to Casey's chair, eyes roving up and down her body, surveying for damage.

"Oh my god Casey, I left to get lunch, I didn't think she'd…did she do anything, or say…"

"She did say something." Casey said. She had managed to regain her composure, and she fixed him with a steely glare. "Is it true?" Elliot's face fell.

"Oh Case, I…I didn't want to tell you about this, not until we were through with the trial and…"

"So she wasn't lying." Casey said flatly.

"I am so sorry baby." Elliot said, "she's been calling me ever since she found out I was seeing someone, asking me to come round, but I didn't want to. But that night, when Liv told me she had seen you with Alex…I freaked. But when I went round to Kathy's, we talked for a little while, she kissed me, and I felt nothing, so I left, nothing else…" Casey put a hand up.

"Wait a minute, Kathy?"

Elliot nodded sadly. "Yeah. That night, I went to back home. But I swear after that, I left, Liv came over and tried to convince me to go back there but…" Before Elliot could finish, Casey had jumped out of her chair and pressed her mouth to his.

"Wow." Elliot said once they broke the kiss. "Most girls wouldn't be so happy that their boyfriend had gone to see an Ex."

"Olivia told me she slept with you." Casey explained. Elliot looked cross.

"Casey, don't let her into your head," He took her face in his hands, "she's screwing with you, and getting off on it."

"I know, I'm sorry," Casey pushed his hands away and began to pick up the paperwork Olivia had knocked from her desk. Suddenly, without warning, tears welled up, and she began to cry uncontrollably.

"Casey, don't, please don't," Elliot said, he sat down on the carpet, pulling her into a cuddle, rocking her crying form back and forth gently.

"I hate being like this." She said between sobs.

"I know baby, I know." He said soothingly, he leaned his face against her hair. He buried her head against his chest so she wouldn't see the tears which had started to roll down his own cheeks. He wished to god he could fix her.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hope you all had fabulous holidays! I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd write, this chapter isn't filled with excitement, but its quite essential to the story line…**

Six O'clock couldn't come fast enough for Casey Novak.

The day had, categorically, sucked. She had been accused of alcoholism, sexually assaulted in her own office, despite her objections, Elliot had refused to leave her office after the incident, which meant she hadn't had time to sneak out for a smoke, all that and she was wearing another woman's underwear. She was exhausted by the time Abbie and Alex re-entered her office.

"Now where were we?" Casey said, once both were seated.

"Quite the war council you've got here Case. Do you really need three ADA's though? I thought Alex was trying the case." Elliot said. He'd had to collect an extra chair from a nearby office. Casey assured him no one would notice.

"It's simple, I'm the Vic, Alex is a witness, so we needed another."

Abbie looked confused, "victim of what exactly?"

Casey shut her eyes and steadied her breath, "Rape."

"Do you have any leads? Any idea who it might have…" Abbie started.

Casey shook her head. "They didn't make any attempt to disguise themselves. It was Olivia Benson."

"Olivia from SVU? As in Elliot's partner Olivia?" Abbie questioned. Casey nodded, "Oh boy. Evidence?"

"Only these," Casey said, tossing a pair of handcuffs onto her desk. Elliot looked confused, "When Liv was in my office earlier I managed to take them. I'm guessing you guys don't disinfect these after every use so there might be trace evidence, but I can't be sure."

Abbie tilted her head, "I hate to say it counsellor, her lawyers just going to say you like to play rough."

Casey grimaced, "I thought of that too. That's where Alex comes in."

"Casey, there's a little thing called the statute of limitations you might want to look up." Alex frowned. "We can't try her for raping me."

Abbie put her hands up, "wait a minute, she raped you too?"

Alex blinked slowly, "yes. But we were together at the time. Back when I was SVU ADA."

Abbie looked at Casey, "Novak, as much as I'm sorry that this happened to you, you know how impossible it is to prosecute rape cases when the parties are in a romantic relationship…"

"We're not." Casey interjected.

"Okay, were at the time that the alleged…"

"We weren't, I have a boyfriend." Casey said, irritated. Alex shot her a glare.

"Unfortunately, we can't enter Elliot into evidence." Alex said snidely. Casey's mind wandered onto what entering her sexuality into evidence would look like. She imagined Elliot as exhibit A, held in an impossibly large Ziploc bag, and a double bed as exhibit B. She imagined Abbie calling her to the stand…she quickly pulled herself from her daydream.

"That is exactly why we need you to testify. We may not be able to get her for raping you, but we can establish a pattern of behaviour." Casey argued.

"There's no point," Alex said, "we have no evidence."

Casey shrugged, "I thought of that too, so, we pull your medical records from when you were with Liv, that will confirm abuse…"

"You could, unfortunately, I never went to the hospital…" Alex started.

Casey slapped a binder down in front of her. "What's this then?"

Alex paged through the binder, eyes widening with each page turn, "How the hell did you get these Novak?"

Casey cringed. Alex was going to kick her ass. "I subpoenaed them. McCoy told me not to bother you and Abbie until the end of the day, I thought it would be quicker if I just…"

Alex got to her feet, "...illegally obtained my files, I could have your license for this Novak." She slammed the binder down on the desk. Casey didn't flinch.

"I knew you'd lie about it." Casey admitted.

"You still had no right." Alex steamed, staring daggers down at the younger ADA.

"I'm sorry Alex. I was stupid. But I need you. We can't do this without your testimony. If you're really pissed about it, go ahead, report me to the bar association. If we can't prosecute this, I'm fucked anyway. Olivia's not going to leave me alone. You know that."

"Fine." Alex growled, re-taking her seat "But don't pull anymore stunts like that."

"So you'll testify?" Abbie asked. Alex nodded silently. There was a knock at Casey's door.

"I'm popular today," Casey said, skirting her desk, heading to the office door until Elliot intercepted her.

"Hey, I'll get it." He said, she thought about protesting, but Elliot was already opening the door. "Oh, hey Captain."

"Elliot? Is Casey in?"

Elliot stepped aside and let him in.

"Casey, are you about finished here?" He asked "It's about our earlier conversation, I was hoping you could join me tonight."

Casey glanced around the room, "where?"

"I don't think you want me to say…" Cragen started.

Casey gave a strained smile to all present, "hey, do you think you could finish briefing Abbie and I'll see you back at yours later?"

"Sure." Alex shrugged. Elliot looked uncomfortable letting her out of his sight, but he nodded.

"Great, I'll get my coat."

************

Casey should have seen this coming. She sat, cross-armed on a plastic chair, facing a circle of people.

"I see we have a new face, would you like to introduce yourself?" The group leader asked. Casey took a deep breath. It was much easier not to argue with Cragen. She stood up.

"My name's Casey and…I'm an alcoholic." She said, trying to keep the ire out of her voice. Cragen looked up at her proudly. The whole grouped clapped. This was worse than a joke.

The group leader looked to her expectantly, "would you like to share your story with the group?"

"I don't think I'm quite ready for that." Casey said, quickly retaking her seat. They seemed to accept that, as group leader moved to the person next to her.

************

Once they had briefed Abbie on the case, Alex headed back to her apartment. Stabler promised to meet her there later, once he had found out where Cragen had taken Casey and retrieved her. Eames was working late, so the apartment was empty. Which was lucky, she needed some time to think after an impossibly stressful day. And the thought of the trauma that lay ahead now that she had agreed to testify. She was still mad as hell at Novak for pulling her records, but she understood where the other lawyer was coming from, they hadn't a chance if she didn't testify. Of course, that left her in the awkward position of having to tell Alex about Olivia. Not to mention a judge, twelve jurors and whoever else decided to show up. Once she arrived, she went straight to her bedroom, stripping off her suit and replacing it with a pair of loose fitting jeans and a tee-shirt. She still felt like events were clinging to her, but she hadn't the energy to shower just yet. She walked back into the living room and flipped on the lights then froze.

************

Cragen had frowned intensely at Casey when she had asked to be dropped off at bar near her apartment after the AA meeting, but she needed a drink. Once situated at the bar, she ordered a double Jack Daniels neat (as a 'fuck you' gesture to Cragen and Olivia). It burnt her throat going down, but despite not being a big drinker, when she did, she generally favoured neat spirits. Her stomach burned, and she remembered that she hadn't eaten all day. Though she was tempted to order another, she was worried that Cragen would be waiting outside with an intervention so she headed out for a Taxi.

************

"How've you been?" Olivia said, getting up to greet Alex. She backed up into the doorway of the bedroom.

"How'd you get in here?" She asked. She hadn't seen Olivia in more than a year, her hair was longer, it suited her. She still had an unnerving intensity to her chocolate colour eyes. And she still made Alex's heard beat quicker.

"You still keep the spare key in the planter outside the front door, like I always told you not to," Olivia said, with a half-hearted smile.

"Now I can see why," Alex said, "I think you should leave now."

"Please Al, can't we just talk? I've missed you." Olivia stare teleported her back to years ago, and despite everything, she felt her legs propelling her across the room. Olivia smiled as Alex took a seat. She had always been dazzled by the whiteness and neatness of Olivia's smile.

"Olivia, I know you did it…" Olivia put a hand on Alex's knee.

"Alex, I'm not here to bullshit you." she said gently, she caught Alex's eye, "I've missed you."

"I shouldn't be talking to you." Alex said.

"I wanted to explain myself," there was a sadness in Olivia's voice which still, despite everything, made Alex want to cry.

"Don't…" Alex said, voice hitching.

"Alex, you understand me, you always did. You know I've always been scared of what's inside of me. I was always scared that this would happen…" Olivia leant her head between her knees and her shoulders began to shake.

"Liv, please don't,"

"What am I supposed to do?" Olivia asked weakly. Alex couldn't see her like that. She wrapped an arm around Olivia's shoulders, who immediately leant against Alex, she could feel the warmth of her body through her leather jacket. He resolve disappearing without a trace.

"Olivia, you hurt her…" she paused, "…you hurt me."

"I never meant to," Olivia looked up at her with a tear soaked face. It was wrong that she could still break her heart with a look. She took Alex's face in her hands. "You, you always knew how to calm me down, but Casey, she just kept teasing me, and pushing me…"

Alex shook her head as much as Olivia's hands would allow, "Liv, I know Casey can be an ass, but that doesn't excuse what you did to her."

"I'm so sorry." Olivia said, tears in full force by now. "I just want everything to go back to the way it was before, before all this started. What am I supposed to do? They'll take my job, my life…please Alex, help me, I swear, I never meant for any of this to happen…"

Alex shut her eyes and pulled the other woman into a hug, "All right." She said, barely above a whisper.

************

Casey wrapped on Alex's door and nearly leapt out of her clothes when Alex swung the door open near instantly, "Fuck!"

"Anyone ever tell you you've got a potty mouth Novak?" Alex said.

"What can I say?" Casey said, shrugging off her jacket and dumping it on a nearby armchair, "my dad was in the force, you ever wonder where the phrase 'swear like a trooper' came from?" Alex stalked into the kitchen.

"What did Cragen want?" She called, Casey could hear water running, Alex was filling the kettle.

"AA meeting, Olivia's doing. Don't ask. Is Elliot back here yet?"

Alex popped her head back into the living room, "No, he went looking for you."

"Oh sh-ugar." Casey smiled sweetly at Alex as she minced the curse, switching her cell phone back on which she had been compelled to power off during the AA meeting. Predictably, it immediately began to beep, telling her she had several new voicemails. "Looks like Elliot's filled up my mailbox, I better call him."

Alex returned from the kitchen with two coffees and pressed one into Casey's hands.

"Casey, before you do, we need to talk." Casey set the coffee down on its namesake table.

"What about?" Casey asked.

"About the case. I don't think you should go through with it."

Casey looked incredulous, "what? What are you talking about?"

Alex took a seat next to Casey, "do you really think you can handle it?"

Casey's green eyes met hers with a steely gaze, "I can do this." This was going to be harder than Alex thought. She reached over and placed a hand on Casey's neck. She reacted just as Alex had predicted, recoiling from her touch violently, hunching up her shoulders to protect the vulnerable spot and shivering intensely in her wake.

"Casey, you can't even handle that. You know you're going to have to go to the medical examiner, where they will photograph, and categorise your injuries, then you'll have to describe in graphic detail over and over again exactly what Olivia did to you, where she touched you, how she touched you, you will have to relive the whole…"

"Stop!" Casey yelped.

"I'm not letting you put yourself through that again. I'm not testifying, it's for your own good. That way, you don't have a choice, so no one is going to judge you for not going ahead with it." Alex said, trying her best to sound empathetic. Casey turned to her, pink-nosed, tears coming in floods. Alex wondered what kind of person it made her that Casey's tears didn't hit her nearly as hard as Olivia's.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N I'm still reeling from too many mince pies and too much mulled wine (seriously, who actually enjoys drinking that stuff? :-S), so don't blame me if these are any mistakes in here! As always, reviews are very much appreciated and give me a happy feeling inside! **

When Elliot finally arrived at the Alex's apartment, he was dismayed to find that Alex was alone. He had already called Cragen and checked in at the bar he'd dropped her at, and gone to her apartment, which was also empty. Alex had jumped when he she had seen him at the door and had been acting skittish ever since.

"You want a coffee?" She asked, attempting to escape into the kitchen. Elliot headed her off as casually as he could.

"No I'm fine, has she been by here?"

"Casey?" Alex asked. She was trying far too hard to look innocent.

"Yeah Casey, who else?"

"She was here earlier, but she left a little while ago, I'm gonna make a coffee, are you sure I can't…" Alex tried again to duck into the kitchen, but Elliot blocked the doorway with an arm.

"Alex, what happened, where's Casey?"

"I don't know Elliot, she didn't say where she was going." That did it. Elliot grabbed her shoulders using every ounce of self control he had not to crush her.

"What did you do Alex, where the hell is she?" He yelled, an inch from her face. She looked terrified, but he was in control. He was definitely in control. Elliot didn't have time to fuck around talking in circles with Alex. He needed to be where Casey was. Now. As was intended, her words tumbled out hurriedly,

"I told her I wasn't going to testify, because I didn't want to put her through the trauma of a trial, and I didn't want her to feel like a coward so I'll just say it was me that refused to go on the stand, then she didn't need to back down. Then she just took off, I don't know where she went, Elliot please let go of me!"

"Bullshit Alex!" Elliot practically spat "this has nothing to do with Casey and everything to do with you, now I can't figure out if its because you're too fucking scared to get up on the stand, or if its that you still love Olivia, but either way, you need to get the hell over yourself, because unfortunately, we need you for this case."

"I swear to god Elliot, I don't know where she is…" Elliot released her, disgusted. Her hands came up to rub her shoulders, but he knew he hadn't held her too hard.

"Get your coat. We're going to find her." Alex nodded weakly as Elliot stormed out.

************

John Munch left his partner Fin in the living room to distract his unexpected guest while he snuck out to the kitchen to make a call on his cell. He got voicemail, but he hated those things, so he hit redial.

"Hello?" A voice that wasn't Elliot Stabler answered. Which was strange considering that's who he was calling. He pulled the phone from his ear and double checked the name on the screen. It read Stabler. "Who's this?"

"Alex Cabot." She answered. There was the steady thrum of a car engine in the background. Munch was confused, it seemed she was everywhere he turned these last couple of days.

"Oh. Is uh, Elliot around?"

"Sure, just a minute." After a few short seconds, the engine sound died and a familiar voice answered,

"Hey John, what's up?"

"I've got something you might want." He cocked his eyebrows and glanced back to the living room, forgetting that the gesture would be lost to the man on the other end of the phone.

"Is this important, cause I'm kind of in the middle of something…"

"Your girlfriend's on my couch. Thought you might be looking for her." There was silence.

"Uh, who?" Elliot asked, coyly. Munch rolled his eyes.

"Do you have more than one or was it supposed to be a secret?"

"Is Casey ok?" Munch peeked back into the living room. Fin was filling her in on the plot to North By Northwest which was now halfway through. Tuesday's was classic film night.

"She's fine, other than her poor taste in cinema. Who hasn't seen North By Northwest?"

"People born after they started filming in colour maybe?" Elliot shot back.

"Yeah, I get it. I'm old. Sing a new song."

"All right, I'm on my way. We're not far from your place." And with that Elliot clicked off. Munch frowned and rejoined Fin and Casey.

************

"I just didn't think you guys would spend time together outside of work, with you being partners, having to spend all day together." Casey said. She wasn't following the plot of the movie at all, her head was still spinning, but leading the conversation ensured Fin didn't ask why she had unexpectedly shown up at Munchs Place.

"Hey, the guys can be a wiseass, but he's got good taste in films," Fin shrugged, "I still can't believe you haven't seen this, you need to get some culture girl."

Casey smiled, "before my time." Munch had returned from the kitchen and sat down in one of the brown leather wingchairs.

"Of course," Munch remarked dryly, "your generations idea of a classic is Big Momma's House 2."

************

Less than fifteen minutes after Munchs call, Elliot was rapping on the door, shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other. He had told Alex to wait in the car. Munch swung the door open.

"I didn't tell her I called you, so don't be surprised if she is. She was a little upset when she arrived, but I couldn't get it out of her."

Elliot nodded, barely registering his words as he brushed past into the living room. It had only been a few hours since he had seen Casey, but it felt like months. He was relieved to see the back of a strawberry blonde head on the couch. He rounded it to stand in front of her, with no regard for blocking the television.

"Hey Elliot, you ain't useful and you sure as hell ain't decorative, move your ass." Fin protested.

Elliot ignored him, "Casey are you all right?" She avoided his eyes.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Munch called me."

Casey shot a glare behind her over the couch at the detective who was still loitering near the door.

"Do you need some privacy to talk?" Munch asked, opening the door to his bedroom and gesturing inside. Casey got up, still shooting evil glares at Munch as she skulked into the room, closely followed by Elliot.

As soon as the door was shut, Elliot pulled her into a protective hug, glad to feel her body relax against his. He rested his head on her shoulder, breathing in her perfume and the smell of her hair, which was slightly alien since she had showered at Alex's. Coconut scented instead of her usual berries.

"Casey, I was so scared." He whispered against her neck. She fidgeted in his arms, possibly at the ticklish sensation of his breath.

"Elliot, it's ok, I can deal with being apart from you for a little while." She said. Elliot released her from the hug and took her face in his hands, gently brushing her cheeks with his thumbs.

"I can't." Elliot said honestly.

"El…" She started. Elliot shushed her with a light kiss.

"Casey, that night, when Olivia…if I was there, if I hadn't left you alone in your office earlier." He shut his eyes. He wasn't going to cry in front of her. Casey needed him to be strong, not a child.

"Elliot, it's not your fault, please don't blame yourself," Casey said. Her hands were on his wrists, stroking soothingly.

"Casey, please, when I couldn't find you these last few hours…I can't even describe how awful it was. Please just stay with me, ok?"

"Okay," She relented "but just for your sake. I don't need looking after."

"Fine by me." Elliot smiled.

************

Fin shook his head, "Something's going on. First Casey's office becomes the answer to the question name all the ADA's who have worked for the special victims unit in the last decade, then she shows up here, in a mess with no explanation and Elliot hot on her heels."

Munch nodded, "I agree. I also think we stand zero chance of getting it out of them."

"What you think they're talking about in there?" Fin asked, looking back toward Munchs bedroom.

"I don't know, but they've been in there a while, I'm going to check up." Munch left the comfort of his favourite wingchair and cautiously opened the door, only to be greeted by his fellow detective and the ADA sharing a very passionate kiss. They hadn't even noticed he had entered.

"Ahem!" He coughed deliberately. They immediately broke contact, Casey flushing bright red and Elliot looking like he'd been caught by Casey's parents. "Would you two like to get a room, preferably one that isn't mine?"

"Actually, we were just about to go." Elliot said, throwing sideways glances at Novak who still had a ridiculously abashed expression on her face.

"Any chance of an explanation?" He said, even as Elliot led Casey out of the room with one hand.

"Nope." Elliot said, opening the front door and stealing outside with Casey in tow.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: BAH! Been ages since the last update so I apologise, new years and all that jazz! This is more essential story I'm afraid, no action unfortunately :( Not just yet anyways! I'm gonna start a new story shortly which I'll update concurrently with this one, though this one should be complete in a few more chapters. I feel I need to make up for Olivia being so mean in this one, she'll be back in character next time, though you can expect the new one to still be C/E… :) that's just how I roll. I do go on, sorry, here's the story!**

Doctor Warners office was empty and dimly lit at this hour. The ME was still finishing off an examination on a body brought in just before midnight, and since it didn't concern the SVU department, they had decided not to enter. Elliot had to see enough corpses in his day job, he didn't need to see extra ones unnecessarily. He hadn't managed to numb himself to it yet, and he both doubted he ever would. He would most likely quit if that ever happened. Elliot, Casey and Alex waited on a bench outside.

Elliot sat next to Casey, her hand in his. She didn't have the heart to tell him his big fingers woven through hers were crushing them. She could put up with the minor discomfort.

"You, stay." He rumbled at Alex who sat on the other side of him on the bench as she moved to get up.

"Just needed a coffee." Alex muttered, disobeying his command and wandering off down the hall, arms folded over her chest to fend off the heavy cold which had settled in the presently near dormant building.

"You still haven't told me what we're doing here." Casey said, staring at Elliot, though only at the side of his head as he refused to meet her eyes.

"You'll see Case, trust me." He said absently, leaning forward to peer around the corner Alex had taken.

"All right." Casey said with a sigh, releasing his hand. He turned around sharply.

"You said you did," Elliot said.

"I said I did what?""Trusted me."

"I'm here aren't I?" Casey said, irked. She did trust Elliot, but she hated being left in the dark. And she had a sick feeling about what he had planned, brought on by their present location. Or it might have just been the location, Casey wasn't a massive fan of the ME's office. Prior to transferring to the Special Victims Unit, Casey had worked white collar crimes. Seeing falsified accounts documents on a daily basis did not compare to seeing dismembered children, body parts tagged and numbered, or human beings disfigured so badly they had to be ID'd by their dental work. Casey had figured it would get easier with time, but so far it hadn't.

"I'm gonna just get a breath of fresh air," Casey said, getting up from the bench and heading for the door. She heard footsteps clapping behind her.

"I'll come with." Elliot said, easily catching up with her and wrapping an arm around her waist. She cursed silently. She had wanted to sneak out for a quick smoke, but that was one of the less cute things she hadn't quite got around to telling Elliot about yet.

"Forget it." She smiled, retaking a seat. Elliot didn't ask, he just joined her. Alex returned from her jaunt with two steaming cups of coffee, and handed one to Casey and shrugged at Elliot.

"I've only got two hands…"

"…and you're pissed with me. I know." Elliot finished. Just then, Melinda Warner emerged. She levelled a mock glare at Elliot.

"I hope you have a good reason for keeping me here past my bed time Detective."

************

Elliot had excused himself and stepped into another office with the ME, leaving Casey and Alex alone. They hadn't spoken since Casey had stormed out in the wake of Alex's admission that she had no intention of testifying. The stony silence continued until around ten minutes had past, and Elliot and Dr. Warner rejoined them. Casey groaned inwardly when she saw Warner staring at her with sad, sympathetic eyes. It was patently clear what she and Elliot had been talking about.

"Case, Alex, you want to come with me?" Elliot said, gesturing into one of the exam rooms.

"Want is a strong word." Casey said grumpily, getting to her feet. Alex remained sat, looking hesitant.

"We haven't got all night," Elliot said, waggling the door he was holding open. Alex reluctantly followed the rest of the group inside. Once inside, Elliot sat Casey down on a chair and crouched down to her level, like she had seen him do a million times to kids when he needed to comfort them.

"Okay Casey, this isn't going to be pleasant, but I need you to let the Doc examine you, and photograph your injuries. We're gonna need all the ammo we can get once this goes to trial."

Casey blinked back images of her naked battered body, blown up for clarity, sitting on an easel in a courtroom for all to see while she sat blushing on the witness stand. It was one of her favourite party tricks as a Prosecutor, Jurors tend to be very visual. If a perp looks respectable, they're more likely to walk.

If she could show them horrendous injuries, first hand, horrify them, they were more likely to give her the guilty verdict she wanted. She had a sudden pang of guilt for all the victims she had ever embarrassed in this way and made a mental note to try to avoid such tactics in the future, unless the case was riding on it.

"Do we have to do this right now El? It's kind of late, I'm sure the Doc's got…"

The Doctor herself cut in, "Casey, it's no trouble at all. The sooner we get those injuries photographed the better, its already been four days, every day we leave it, they'll heal more."

Casey ground her teeth, "all right." Elliot smiled and squeezed both her knees, stretching back up to his full height.

"Great, I'll be just outside." Elliot headed out the door, and Alex made a move to follow him.

"Ah-ah Alex, you're staying here." He said, blocking the door with his sizable frame. Casey shot up from her chair.

"Elliot! I wouldn't mind maintaining just a shred of dignity if that's all right with you." She snapped angrily. Elliot walked over, pulled her into a hug and whispered softly into her ear,

"Trust me baby, please." Casey had no idea what he was trying to accomplish, but she nodded mutely. He kissed her forehead and stalked out of the room, closing the door before Alex got any other ideas about escape.

Warner set a Dictaphone beside the examination table and said, "Casey, I'll make this go as quick as possible."

Casey nodded, fixating numbly on the blinding ceiling lights as she undressed as slowly as she could.

************

It was worse than Alex had thought. She had wanted to dash out of the exam room to be sick several times, but she knew Elliot would be waiting on the other side of the door. All the bite marks, the bruising. It was the same body she had seen in a mirror years ago. Even Doctor Warner had winced at the violent mottled purple-blue bruise just below Casey's ribs which nothing but a fist landing extremely hard could have caused. The Prosecutor looked as though she'd gone ten rounds with a particularly put out wolverine, never mind a sadistic female Police Officer. The ME was warm, comforting. Reassuring the young ADA that the self-inflicted slashes were more common than she would have thought in rape victims, and she needn't be ashamed, although Casey had still tried to pass them off as scratches from Olivia.

Alex had figured out Elliot's plan.

Which is why she was even more mad with him that it was still working. Once Casey had dressed herself, she had scurried quickly out of the room, ducking her head as she passed Alex, and thrown herself straight into the arms of the waiting Elliot. He hugged her, rocking back and forth, but his eyes were fixed on Alex's. She too left the exam room, and as she passed Elliot, she said,

"I'll do it." Then she hurried to the bathrooms where she could break down as privately as possible.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N Alright, sorry its been so long since I updated, been away! Anyhoo, here it is. This story is way longer than I thought it was going to be! My second story will start to be posted soon, I just don't want to start posting it til I know how its gonna end as I really don't want to put anything up I can't finish! Happy new year all, thanks for reading and reviewing as always, and also, I just wanted to ask a somewhat strange question: Do all Americans actually live in apartments? Everyone seems to in SVU! A bit random I know, but most people in England live in terrace houses generally.**

After waiting eons for Alex to re-emerge from the bathroom, Elliot had driven them back to the Alex's apartment, calling Abbie on the way to secure an arrest warrant. She had arrived over an hour later, document in hand, she tossed it onto the coffee table in front of Elliot,

"It's signed, Judge said to keep the collar low key. We'll arraign in the morning."

Elliot read over the arrest warrant for Olivia. It felt strange to see his partners name on a document he had seen so many times before.

"I'll go pick her up," He said, grabbing his coat, "Abbie, can you stay here? Casey's asleep, I need someone to keep an eye on her."

Abbie shrugged, "Alex is in the kitchen."

"Please Abbie." Elliot said, eyes pleading. Abbie parked on the couch.

"Fine, I'll stay. Now go make that collar. And no funny business. The last thing this case needs is a dubious arrest. "

************

Elliot tensed his hands on the steering wheel. Before he left, Abbie had recommended he bring another detective along, Munch or Fin. He had ignored her advice and driven at barely legal speeds to Olivia's apartment, and now was sat outside, shaking, trying to reign in the raw rage that was coursing through his veins. He knew if he didn't get a hold of it before he was face-to-face with Olivia, he was liable to put her through a wall.

He dug in his pocket for the spare key he kept to Olivia's apartment and began his ascent of the apartment block stairs.

************

Olivia was just about to head to bed when she heard the lock turn over. Only Elliot held a spare key to her place so she was none too surprised when his hulking form appeared in her doorway. What did surprise her was his expression, his strong brows pointing severely inward, his mouth set in an almost snarl.

"Hey El," She greeted. He walked toward her, slowly, like he was moving through treacle.

"Olivia Benson, you are under arrest for rape and assault. You have the right to remain silent…" he said, robotically. Olivia cut in,

"What the fuck Elliot? Is this some kind of sick joke?" Elliot grabbed her by the arms, hands shaking with anger.

"You're the sick joke." He spat. He turned her round, pushing her roughly face first against the wall and cuffing her, so tight that she could feel the metal digging into her wrist bones.

"Shit El, those are tight!" She whimpered. Elliot leant close to her ear.

"Now you know how Casey felt." Olivia's face hardened. He knew. He knew everything. There was no point in continuing her innocence charade, at least until her court date.

"You know Elliot, Casey looks pretty tough out there in the courtroom, but strip her off and spread her legs, well she just turns into a kitten. But I guess you already know that…"

"Shut up!" He snapped, she could feel his fingers digging into her arms as he held her fast against the wall. She knew his weakness. All she had to do was push the right buttons.

"She cried out for you El. Once she realized I was going to go through with it. I didn't realize you guys were that serious until she called out your name." She heard her door open and suddenly, Elliot was pushing her out into the hallway, hard enough that she lost her footing and crashed to the ground.

"Get up." He growled, tugging her to her feet by her collar and bundling her into the elevator.

************

PRE-TRIAL

Casey was the last to arrive at the meeting Abbie had called with herself, Elliot and Alex to discuss how the arraignment had gone. Casey had opted not to go to court, though Elliot had promised he would have gone with her had she chosen too. Abbie was in full on lawyer mode.

"All right, thanks for coming, here's the deal so far. I'm getting a lot of pressure from the DA's office to plead Benson out…"

"Why?" Casey cut in. Abbie smiled politely as she could.

"…I was just getting to that. We've managed to keep this under wraps so far, but if the press get a whiff off it they'll be all over it, we all know how they love a police scandal."

Alex shrugged, sipping on her coffee, "what would the deal look like?" She asked. She wasn't wearing her trademark glasses and she looked worn out. Casey knew Alex had been losing sleep in the run up to the trial. She had been startled by her several times when she had popped out of the guest room to sneak a smoke or grab a glass of water.

"We drop the rape charge, she cops to aggravated sexual assault, she gets six months suspension, a suspended sentence and the incident goes in her jacket."

Casey rolled her eyes, "basically a slap on the wrists?"

"Ok, if we push it we might be able to get her demoted back to uniform, that way you won't have to move departments." Abbie said.

Alex shook her head, "Casey's right, we're not talking about a little grope here. Plus, I think we've got a pretty strong case. I say we go for jail time. Two years, minimum. And she has to sign the sex offenders register."

"Cabot, you know her lawyers not gonna go for that." Abbie chided.

"Donnelly's the judge," Elliot offered, "she loves Casey, which means that…"

"…she has to recuse herself. Motion came through from the defence this morning." Abbie said, sliding a document across the table to Elliot.

"Shit." He muttered.

"Lets give them a deal we know they'll refuse and take it to court then." Casey said.

"The DA will have my ass," Abbie said. She was starting to get frustrated with the other two lawyers. "it was pushing it to get McCoy to let me work this case in the first place without ignoring his recommendations."

"Alright, lets go for a years suspended sentence, she loses her badge and takes compulsory counselling." Casey said.

Abbie stood up, "Look, I've had enough of this backseat prosecuting. Casey, you called me in, so you know I know what I'm doing. And no matter how pissed off you all are, you all know that this is going to be a bastard of a case to win if we take it to court. We'll most likely wind up with an acquittal. Our best chance of salvaging anything from this is field a palatable deal."

"I called you in Carmichael," Casey said evenly, "because you have a reputation of being a tough lawyer who always tries for maximum sentences and even the death penalty if it's available. I was the victim of this crime, and I say we go for it all or nothing. Offer a shit plea bargain and take it before the grand jury, let them decide. If we lose, hell, I'll hand in my own transfer request."

"Novak, if we lose, in all likelihood you'll be on trial next for making a false rape allegation," Abbie fired back. "If that's a risk you're willing to take, fine. I'll meet with Bensons lawyer this afternoon and offer two years jail time and we'll see this through to the bitter end. But don't blame me if we lose."

Casey nodded, "do it."

************

As Abbie Carmichael had predicted, Olivia Bensons lawyer had flatly refused their deal, opting to go before the grand jury, pleading not guilty, and a trial date had been set. Olivia made bail and was out the same day.

It was the night before the first day in court, and Casey was awake, laid on Elliot's bare chest.

"Are you thinking about tomorrow?" Elliot asked. She could hear his voice echoing around inside his chest and it was strangely comforting.

"I'm fine El," She said slightly abruptly.

"I'll be right there Case, just focus on me, ignore Liv, her lawyer, Carmichael, everyone."

"I said I'm fine." Casey muttered, rolling off his chest to the other side of the bed, turning her back on him.

"Hey, don't be like that." Elliot said softly, gently toying with her hair. She batted his hands off.

"All you talk about is this goddamned court case!" Casey said, surprised herself that she was shouting at him. He also looked taken aback by her tone. She carried on anyway, "you're supposed to be my boyfriend, not just a sex crimes cop."

"Casey, I'm in bed with you right now. I definitely don't do this for all my victims." Elliot said, a puzzled and hurt look on his face.

"That's just it Elliot, as soon as you found out about it, I stopped being your girlfriend and started being another rape victim." Casey said, climbing out of bed and standing by a wall with her arms crossed. Elliot hopped out of bed and put his arms around her.

"Casey come back to bed. It's ok. A lot of rape victims feel like this. I'll call Huang in the morning, we'll set you up with some counselling…"

Casey pulled herself forcefully out of his arms, "there you go again! I'm not a fucking child Elliot!"

"Calm down Case," Elliot said, shuffling from one foot to the other, unsure of whether to approach her or not. Casey saved him the trouble of deciding and stormed out of the bedroom.

************

For the fourth night in a row, a few seconds after Alex had switched the nightstand lamp off, she'd heard the soft rustle of duvet next to her, then felt warm lips slowly making their way up her neck until the met with her own, and a small hand sneaking up under her top to caress her breasts. And each time she had indulged her girlfriend by returning her kisses for a few minutes, before cooling off, feigning tiredness, headache, ladies problems and other ailments. She and Eames hadn't made love since the day she had gone to the courtrooms to meet Casey after the angry call she had gotten from Elliot. Tonight was no different. She felt Eames' tongue lightly brush her lower lip and she broke the kiss.

"Hey, not tonight Al, I gotta be in court early tomorrow." She said, giving Eames her best smile. Eames sighed and clicked the light on.

"Alright Alex, what's the deal here?" She said, shuffling up the bed until she was sitting upright with her back against the pillows.

"Nothing, I've just got an early morning ahead of me, you do too."

"Alex, ever since Casey showed up, it's like you don't want me anywhere near you." Eames said, looking a little upset. "Is there something you need to tell me?"

Alex frowned, "of course not, I think we've established quite clearly that Casey is both heterosexual and otherwise attached, and, even if she wasn't, I still wouldn't…"

Eames cut in, "oh god, not like that Alex! I mean about this case. I know you used to date Olivia, and I know you're testifying in court tomorrow. You've been keeping me well clear of anything to do with the case, but even someone who wasn't a detective by trade could put those pieces together."

"Olivia never raped me." Alex said flatly. Eames stared into her eyes.

"I think you're lying to me." She said.

Alex let out an over exaggerated sigh, "Think what you want." She snapped, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door with gusto on the way out.

************

Casey was out on the balcony, freezing her ass off in just a vest and a pair of short shorts, but it was worth it to be away from Elliot. Just as she lit a cigarette, she heard the balcony door slide open. She was about to turn and tell Elliot to fuck off when she realized it was Alex who had joined her.

"Casey, I really wish you wouldn't smoke on my balcony." She frowned.

"Better than smoking inside your apartment." Casey countered, blowing smoke out into the cold air.

"True." Alex admitted, "So, what brings you to the balcony?"

Casey sighed, leaning on the railings, staring out at the city lights. "I think I love my boyfriend, but he doesn't love me or see me as anything more than a kicked puppy that needs comforting."

Alex was taken aback by Casey's blunt honesty, and decided to fire back with some of her own, "well, I think my girlfriend loves me, but I don't love her, and I only got into a relationship with her because she doesn't frighten me because she could never overpower me the way Olivia did."

"God," Casey said, "we suck."

"Yeah, I guess we do." Alex agreed, even managing a slight grin.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N It's court case time! Almost… It will actually commence in the next update. I apologise if it's not all absolutely procedurally correct, everything I know about US Law I learnt from crime shows! I'm also just about to post my new story "In Their Place", but I'll be slower updating that one since I'm going to focus on finishing this one first. You'll be glad to know that Olivia is back to her lovely self in that one, and shan't be engaging in any sort of sexual assaults whatsoever.**

"You want my advice Casey?" Alex said, after a few minutes of mutual silence.

"Not really, but go on." Casey said, rubbing her bare arms to try and warm them up.

"I think you should go apologise to Elliot. You're all over the place right now, understandably given the circumstances, but can you blame him for not knowing how to deal with you?"

"I don't even know what I want right now." Casey admitted.

"So how do you expect him to know?" Alex asked softly. She was right. Casey had calmed down suitably, and now felt incredibly guilty for cursing at Elliot, who was only trying to comfort her.

"I see your point, thanks," Casey said. "So, what's brought this on about you and Alex? You guys seemed so happy."

"It's Liv." Alex sighed, looking away from Casey.

"What about her?"

"She uh…" Casey was the last person she wanted to tell this, but she was feeling confessional. It had been eating her up since that afternoon, "remember that night a couple of weeks ago when I tried to convince you not to go to trial?"

Casey nodded.

"Well, that afternoon, before you got back from wherever Don took you, Olivia came round."

"And you let her in?" Casey looked incredulous.

"I always leave a spare key in the plant pot outside. She remembered."

"That's dumb." Casey frowned.

"Yeah, I know, it's not there any more. But, anyway, she came over and she was so upset. I…I couldn't stand it." Casey put a hand up.

"Wait a minute, you tried to convince me to drop the case because Olivia told you to?"

Alex shut her eyes, "not just because she told me to. I think I still love her."

"What else happened while she was here?" Casey asked, arms crossed, expression serious. Her green eyes were hard and looked black in the limited light.

"I uh…" Alex swallowed hard and let it out, "I slept with her." Casey's face was unreadable and Alex immediately regretted her admission. "Are you going to tell Alex?" She asked, panicked.

"No. But you should." Casey said.

"I don't want to hurt her." Alex shrugged.

"It's a bit late for that." Casey muttered contemptuously.

"Hey, I'm not judging you."

"That's because _I__'__m_ not the one who slept with…" Casey's words trailed off, rethinking the end of that sentence. She squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly remembering how tired she was, and what she needed to do tomorrow.

"I don't know why I even did it." Alex said, "when the hell did everything get so messed up?"

"When Olivia Benson walked into our lives." Casey shot back immediately.

"How can I still love her Casey, after everything?" Alex asked. It took Casey a few seconds to realize the other woman was looking at her, expecting an answer.

"There's a difference between loving someone, and them having control over you." Casey said, "I think you need to figure out which it is with Olivia before you speak to Alex, or you might do something else you'll regret."

With that, Casey left Alex out on the balcony, hoping she had given her something to think about.

************

Casey felt a sick sense of comfort that someone had bigger problems than her. She cautiously opened the guest bedroom door and saw Elliot's large frame spread across the bed. He had his hands neatly tucked behind his head and was wide awake and staring at her. Sheepishly, she perched on the edge of the bed.

"You're sorry, your heads all over the place right now, you didn't mean to yell at me, and you'd like to have sex with me over and over again until the sun comes up."

Casey turned to see his was smiling his legendary smile. It was infectious, she'd give him that. She could feel the corner of her mouth tugging up.

"All except the last part." She said.

Elliot nodded, "All right, I was kidding about the sun coming up part. It's still spring, the sun won't rise until around seven thirty, and I need at least a couple hours shut-eye after all the lovemaking if I'm going to be ready for court tomorrow."

"El, shut up." She said, even as she climbed on top of him, straddling his hips and leaning her face centimetres from his. Elliot wrapped his arms delicately around her, rolling her onto her back, leaving himself on top.

"I think you know how to make me," He whispered seductively into her ear, kissing it and beginning to work down her neck.

"You can be really annoying sometimes, you know that?" Casey said, wriggling at the ticklish yet delightful sensations Elliot was causing.

"But you love me." He said, pecking her on the lips and fixing her green eyes with his own piercing blue.

"I was drunk when I said that." Casey protested. He jutted his lower lip out in an over-exaggerated manner. Casey couldn't surpress a giggle. "All right, all right, I do."

"You do what?" Elliot asked, lip still pouted.

"I love you." Casey said. The words were surprisingly easy to say.

Elliot seemed to keep her waiting an eternity before replying,

"I love you too Casey."

************

A thunderous knock on the front door woke Alex Cabot from a fitful, unsatisfying sleep. She gave an ample yawn and kicked the blankets to the end of the couch. She didn't even check the peephole before throwing open the door to find the doorway occupied by Abbie Carmichael.

"I'd say good morning but it obviously isn't," She said, looking the exhausted ADA up and down.

"Why are you here so early?" Alex groaned, letting her step in.

Abbie set down her briefcase, "just wanted to go over everything one last time before we hit the courtroom."

Alex looked at the clock hanging above the electric fireplace. It read 5:15.

"I'll wake the others," Alex said, tightening her dressing gown and knocking on the guest room door, "Case, El, Abbie's here!" She yelled lethargically. She muttered something that sounded like coffee before ambling off toward the kitchen. Abbie realized she was probably not a born morning person like herself. While Alex was in the kitchen cursing at the coffee machine which was not responding to her will, Elliot came out of the bedroom, bleary eyed and clothed only in a pair of tight black boxers. Having managed to avert the machinations of the evil coffee machine, Alex joined Abbie in the living room, only to be greeted by the sight of a half naked, half asleep Elliot.

"God Elliot, as if I need to see that first thing in the morning." She muttered. Abbie didn't seem to have any complaints.

"Oh, shit." Elliot muttered, noticing his state of undress. He wandered back into the bedroom, then returned with a pair of jeans added to his outfit. "Casey's borrowing my shirt." He explained, taking a seat on the couch.

Casey followed shortly after, with an unreasonable case of bed hair, wearing one of Alex's dressing gowns over Elliot's shirt.

"We all here now?" Abbie asked, opening her briefcase.

Elliot turned to Alex, who was stood in the kitchen doorway, keeping an eye on the wayward coffee machine, "Hey, do we need to get Eames up?"

Alex shook her head vehemently, "she's on night shift tonight. Better let her rest."

Elliot shrugged, "Ok Abbie, fire away."

Abbie stood up, shuffling a sheaf of papers until the right one was on top,

"Ok, here's my opening statement, let me know what you think…"

**A/N Just wanted to add, I didn't want to write in Abbie's opening statement here as it will only be repeated in the opening of the next chapter…**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N Okays, if there are any inaccuracies in the procedures here, please don't blame me, I think I've said it before, I know little about actual court proceedings!**

**Anyways, for those who don't remember Jason Whitaker is the lawyer Casey is up against in the episode night (because I recently watched it)**

**I'll try and type up the rest of the court case tomorrow. Sorry if you're following my other story, I'll get to updating it shortly, I just want to finish this one first as it started first.**

**Oh yeah, and thanks for reading and reviewing, awesome as always! I'm so sad that it makes me really excited when I see the little alerts in my inbox!**

Casey sat on the bench outside the courtroom. It felt strange, hearing the muffled sounds of Abbie Carmichael's Texan drawl as she protested to the judge about the lateness of the defences counsel. A sharp staccato of mens boots against marble floor started to play out, and Casey watched as a familiar figure focused as he dashed up the hall, briefcase in hand, flashing his attorney ID at the security guard ensuring he could slip past the black arch of the metal detector.

Jason Whitaker gave Casey a smile which made her stomach turn, "Casey Novak." He said, "bet it feels strange being on this side of proceedings." He offered a hand shake, but Casey ignored his gesture. He held his hand awkwardly out for a few seconds before slipping it into his jacket pocket.

"You should go on through, I wouldn't want to keep you from averting justice." Casey said.

"Hey, everyone deserves a fair trial." Whitaker shrugged, he leant down and placed a hand on Casey's shoulder, "don't worry, I'll go easy on you during the cross-exam." He winked. Casey wanted to take off her suit jacket and burn it in front of him.

"Don't worry, I'm a big girl, I think I can handle it." She said, sweeping his hand off.

"For what it's worth Casey, I'm sorry that I've been chosen for this case."

"I'm not," Casey smiled. Predictably, Whitaker's chest swelled, and he mirrored her own grin. The mans ego most likely had its own zip code. "I was afraid they'd send someone good." Casey smirked, once she felt he was suitably reeled in. His smiled quickly vanished, but his arrogant deportment didn't change.

"On the upside, at least this has shed some light on why you turned me down when I asked you to dinner." He said, crossing his arms smugly.

"What are you talking about Whitaker?" Casey asked, getting increasingly annoyed with the lawyers idle conjecture.

"I'm sure it'll all come clear when I present my defence." Just then, Abbie popped her head out of the heavy wooden courtroom doors.

"There you are!" She looked between Casey and Whitaker. "Hey Whitaker, unless you want me to call the bar association and have your license revoked for witness tampering, I suggest you get yourself into the courtroom. Now."

Abbie allowed him to pass her into the courtroom with a glare. She stepped into the corridor and waited until Jason Whitaker could be heard giving a lengthy apology to the by now righteously pissed off Judge Dan Saunders.

"Casey, I'm not calling you until at least this afternoon, you think you could run home and change?" Abbie said, in a hushed tone. Casey glanced down at her grey suit jacket with oversized, notched lapels and matching tailored skirt, finished with a rose petal pink underneath, and the whole ensemble was neatly pressed.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Casey asked.

"You look like a lawyer."

Casey couldn't help herself. She took her ID from her pocket and held it up to Abbie enthusiastically, "Uh, surprise?" She said in a somewhat derisory tone.

Abbie placed her hands on her hips, face serious, "Casey, no offence, but people don't exactly love lawyers, and you're up against a female cop who puts away baby rapists. No contest for who's going to be winning the public vote out there."

"They're going to know I'm a lawyer." Casey said.

"Please Casey, I need all I can get on this." Abbie said. Casey relented. She could see Carmichael's point.

"All right, I'll be back in ten."

************

Abbie shuffled awkwardly in her seat, and hoped Jason Whitaker didn't notice she was flustered. Her evidence list was short, and her witness list shorter. Only three names stared up at her Casey Novak, Alexandra Cabot and Melinda Warner tacked for the hell of it. She probably wouldn't called the ME, unless the case started flagging. Then she'd throw the doctor up on the stand to describe Casey's injuries in meticulous detail, a last gasp attempt for the sympathy vote. But hopefully it would not come to that. Jason Whitaker had denied his right to give an opening statement, and Abbie knew that could only be a bad thing. It meant he was going to surprise her with his defence.

Abbie Carmichael was not a fan of surprises. She only prayed that it might be so audacious that even the jury would find it unbelievable.

"The defence calls Detective Olivia Benson to the stand." Whitaker said calmly.

Olivia had been sworn in, and Abbie had switched off while Whitaker ran through the preliminary questions, about her name, job, etc.

"Detective Benson, can you tell us where you were on the evening of the 28th of February, around 9pm?"

Olivia gave a sad smile, "I was at the apartment of Miss Casey Novak." Abbie sat bolt upright. She was surprised, they, the prosecution, had no evidence that placed Olivia at Casey's apartment that night. There were security cameras in the elevators, but they had been out the night of the attack. Abbie had been certain Whitaker was going to go for outright denial.

But Abbie had heard a saying once, that the best lies contained some truths.

"Why were you there?" Whitaker asked. Abbie didn't like the way he paced the courtroom. He had a theatrical swagger, as though he thought he was starring in some sort of procedural crime show.

Olivia shifted bashfully in her chair, "um, I was just visiting."

Jason Whitaker walked up to the witness stand, "did you, often visit Miss Novak at a late hour?" he asked, words dripping with suggestion. Abbie shook her head and stood up.

"Your Honour, is this going anywhere?" She asked. Judge Saunders peered at Abbie over his reading glasses and cocked a bushy grey eyebrow.

"Miss Carmichael, you are aware Mister Whitaker is talking to his own client?"

"Sorry," Abbie said, quickly re-taking her seat. She didn't like where this was going.

Judge Saunders leaned in toward Whitaker, and said quietly, "Please get to the point counsellor, we don't have all day."

Whitaker turned on his heel, facing the jury, "Detective Benson, what was the nature of your relationship with Miss Novak, at the time of the alleged 'rape'?" He even made quotation marks in the air. Abbie was tempted to object, but had no idea what she would prefix such an objection with.

"We were…uh, seeing each other." Olivia said, fidgeting with her hands. Abbie had to admit, the detective was putting on an impressive show.

Whitaker smiled, "can you be more specific detective?" he asked, almost in courteous whisper.

"She was my girlfriend." Olivia blurted out, casting an apologetic glance to a very specific person in the gallery. Abbie turned to follow her sightline, and found herself staring into the eyes of Detective Stabler. His face was stoic, unreadable.

Whitaker nodded, "I take it this wasn't common knowledge around the Squadroom." he said. Olivia shook her head.

"That was Casey's decision. She wasn't comfortable with everyone knowing just yet."

"And by that you mean she made you keep it a secret." Abbie was out of her chair immediately.

"Objection…"

"…Withdrawn." Whitaker said, before Abbie had quite finished the word, "let's talk about that night detective. You went to Miss Novak's apartment, around 9pm. What happened next?"

"Well, we talked for a little while, watched some TV, I can't remember what exactly, then we uh…went to bed."

Whitaker raised his eyebrows, "I'm sorry Detective, you're going to have to be a little less vague."

Olivia blinked hard, and even managed to raise a blush. Abbie wondered how many times she and Whitaker had practiced this.

"We went to Casey's room. We had sex. Then I left."

"Really, why was that?"

Olivia rubbed at the back of her neck, "We had a fight."

"A fight?" Whitaker looked shocked, but it was all for show. "Did it get physical?"

"Oh god no, nothing like that. We just had an argument about something, so I left."

Whitaker gave Olivia his best apologetic stare, "I'm sorry detective, I know you're not a fan of airing your dirty laundry in public, but I'm going to have to ask you what exactly the argument was about."

Olivia nodded, "all right. It was about a phone call. After we had finished in bed, Casey's cellphone rang. I picked it up and it was Elliot."

Whitaker pointed out into the gallery, "you mean, your partner, Detective Elliot Stabler?"

Olivia kept her eyes on her feet, "yes. You see, Casey was kind of dating him."

"At the same time as she was dating you?" Whitaker's incredulous tone was really starting to grate.

"Yes. As cover."

"Cover for what?" Whitaker asked.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N Sorry if this court case is getting a bit tedious! It is going somewhere, trust me, I do know how this story ends, it's just a case of writing it, and it's turning out a little longer than I expected. A hell of a lot longer actually (I wasn't going to include the court proceedings, I was just going to refer back to them, but I thought you guys who are reading it might feel a little cheated if I skipped over it, so here it is. It is _Law_ ****& Order after all)**

**Oh, and the update is tonight because we unlucky people in England have only just had season 9 of SVU finish airing L. All the best shows happen in the US first! Dammit!**

"She hadn't come out yet, not to anyone," Olivia explained.

"Really?" Whitaker said, walking up to the witness stand, "so tell me, if Miss Novak had not come out to anyone, how was it that you two came to be involved in a relationship?"

"It was kind of out of the blue actually, she approached me in a Bar."

Whitaker walked back to his desk and retrieved a manila folder, "The Defences exhibit A your honour." He explained, as he handed one set of photos to the judge, a set to the jury, and kept a batch in his own hands. Once the pictures had made their way around the twelve jurors, he continued, "these pictures were taken on the 1st of February this year, from a security camera in the downtown bar, 'Sugar'. For those who don't know it, it's one of the most popular gay bars in Manhattan."

Abbie looked down at the copies of the photos on her desk which had been supplied by the defence to the prosecution before the trial and cursed her luck. It seemed Casey and Olivia had been sitting directly under the camera, there was no denying it was the Attorney in the photos. Besides, that would have been perjury.

"In the first picture, we can clearly see Miss Novak in conversation with the defendant." Whitaker said, "and in the second picture, Miss Novak can unmistakably be seen engaging in a kiss with the defendant. Not the sort of kiss two good friends might share." he added, arching an eyebrow dramatically at the jury.

Abbie cast a quick glance at the Jurors and was disgruntled to see that they were rapt to the defending lawyers discourse.

"And finally, in the third photograph, Miss Novak can be seen leaving the bar, with the defendant. Please note that Miss Novak's arm is around the defendants waist." He slapped his set of photos down on his desk. "Detective Benson, was that the day that your relationship began?"

"Yes." Olivia said meekly.

"Ok. And when did it come to an end?"

"The night of the 28th."

"When you had a fight about Miss Novak's relationship with your Partner Detective Stabler?" Whitaker asked.

"Yes."

"Can you please recount for the court how that argument went?" Whitaker said, pacing away from the witness bench and leaning against the defences desk.

"All right," Olivia shrugged, "we were in bed, and I was talking to her again about coming out. She had told me the week before that she was going to break things off with Elliot and tell him about us, but she hadn't yet. She said she didn't want to talk about it just then, and I got a little mad, because that's what she always said when I brought the matter up. So I gave her an ultimatum. I told her if she didn't tell Elliot that night, we were through." Olivia paused and pinched the bridge of her nose, as though this part was awkward for her, "I know it was rash, but Casey's, I mean, sorry, Miss Novak's cell was on the night stand, so I picked it up and dialled Detective Stabler. I handed her the phone while it was ringing, but she just cursed at me and gave it back. When Elliot answered, I gave him some lame excuse then hung up. After that, I got dressed and left."

"How was did Miss Novak seem before you left."

Olivia shrugged, "She was pretty mad with me."

"Because you broke up with her?" Whitaker said.

"Yeah, but I had to, I really liked her, but it wasn't fair on Elliot, and I couldn't stay with someone who was so uncomfortable with her own sexuality. I thought it was for the best at the time."

Whitaker nodded and took his seat, glancing across at Abbie, "No further questions. Your witness."

"The people request a recess Your Honour." Abbie sighed.

"It's a little early Miss Carmichael, do the people have a valid reason?" The judge asked.

"Yes Your Honour, we need to bring in a screen to display video evidence."

The Judge, and Whitaker looked confused, "there is no video evidence on the prosecutions evidence list."

Abbie nodded, "the people have yet to subpoena it." Judge Saunders scowled.

"Will the counsel please approach the bench?" he snapped. Abbie and Whitaker both walked up to the bench. Whitaker spoke first,

"Aren't the prosecution supposed to gather evidence before the trial starts?"

Abbie rolled her eyes at him, then turned to the Judge, "Your Honour, I believe that the stills captured from the security camera have been cherry-picked to support the defences claim of a relationship. To get the full story, I think jury needs to see the full, unedited tape."

"Your Honour, they were in the bar for several hours, I only used a few stills to capture the gist of…"

"'Gist' is not enough. The court orders that you turn a copy of the tape over to the people so that it can be displayed to the jury in it's original context." The Judge said sternly.

"We can't do that Your Honour," Whitaker pressed "we were never in possession of the tape, the stills were provided by the defendant."

"Mr. Whitaker, that is sloppy procedure," Judge Saunders frowned, "Miss Carmichael, I will grant your recess and sign you the warrant you need to secure the tape. Please make it quick." He looked around the room then said loudly, "Court is in recess until 12 O'Clock." With that, he slapped his gavel down on the desk and swiftly left for his chambers.

************

Casey had already redressed and returned by the time Abbie was rushing out the courtroom doors.

"What happened?" She asked, confused to see Abbie out of court so soon.

"We got blindsided is what happened." Abbie said, frowning deeply.

"How?" Casey asked.

"They aren't even denying that Olivia was at your apartment that night. Whitaker's claiming the two of you were in a relationship, but you were so far back into the closet that Olivia ended up dumping you."

"Well that's a fair amount of bull, even for Whitaker." Casey said.

"Unfortunately, it's also believable. He's got stills of you in a compromising position with Olivia in a gay bar. He even accounted for you phone call to Elliot that night, the one that Olivia answered." Abbie continued to recount the events in the trial so far.

"Shit," Casey ground out. "We need to get that tape…"

"On it, I just need to get the paperwork from my office, Judge Saunders is all set to sign the subpoena."

************

Abbie dashed back to her office, completing the necessary document, took it to the Judge's Chambers for Saunders signature, then collected Elliot from the gallery and Casey from the waiting room. Casey waited in the car while the two entered Sugar. Elliot flashed his badge at the butch looking lady serving at the bar.

"Police, who's in charge here?"

"Leah Andrews, land lady. How can I help?" She asked. Elliot handed her the Subpoena document.

"We're gonna need a tape from your security camera, for the night of the 1st of February." Leah looked over the document and grimaced.

"Sorry guys, we don't store these things for long. After a few weeks we just tape over old footage."

Elliot looked furious, her leaned close to her over the bar, "did you know we can have you arrested for destroying evidence pertaining to a criminal investigation?"

Leah put her hands up, "Hey, no one told me it was evidence in a criminal investigation!"

Abbie cut in, "didn't a lawyer ask to see that very same video, and take some stills of it on your office computer?"

Leah shook her head, "no, that never happened! A friend of mine asked to see it, she was drunk in here some time back, said she couldn't remember what had happened, so I let her take a look."

"Was that friend Olivia Benson by any chance?" Elliot asked.

"I'm not saying any more." Leah said, crossing her sizable arms.

"Did she tell you to destroy the tape?" Abbie asked.

"No, I told you already, we always tape over them a week or so after they're made. No one told me it needed to be kept!" Leah repeated, exasperation showing.

"Fine." Elliot snapped, turning on his heel. Abbie quickly followed him out of the bar.

"That means Olivia must have taken those stills within a week of that night in the bar," Abbie said as she got into the car.

"Bitch must have had this planned since then," Elliot growled, "took the photos and kept them as insurance, knowing that the bar would unknowingly destroy the evidence."

"So there's no video?" Casey asked, having only caught the back end of the their conversation.

"Apparently not." Abbie said, snapping in her seatbelt.

"Shit, why didn't you subpoena the original video in the first place, when Whitaker gave you the evidence list with the stills on it?" Casey asked, somewhat angrily.

Abbie sighed, "I didn't think it was relevant at the time, I was still thinking they were going to try to deny Olivia was at your apartment at all."

She could see Casey's look of displeasure in the rear view mirror, "You should have looked into it, there had to be a reason he had those pictures on the evidence list. If we had found out that the original tape had been destroyed before the trial started, we might have been able to have the pictures ruled inadmissible. Now it's done, we're screwed."

"Casey, I messed up alright? Happy?"

"I'd be happier if we weren't screwed." Casey muttered.

"Let me go back into the bar, I think we can salvage something from this." Abbie said.

************

Abbie had wound up having to tell Judge Saunders that the tapes had been destroyed. He had given Whitaker a sharp reprimand for not securing the original tapes, but now Abbie was back in court, ready to start her cross-exam of Olivia.

"Detective Benson," She said, "I have in my hand a sworn statement from one Miss Leah Andrews, Proprietor of the aforementioned establishment, Sugar. She handed a copy to the judge, Olivia, and the Jury.

"As you can see, Miss Andrews stated that she allowed Detective Benson access to the security tapes on the 4th of February. That is, three days after the meeting took place. This is when the stills which Mr. Whitaker presented to the jury were secured. Now, if on that day you commenced a relationship with Miss Novak, can you tell us why three days later, you deemed it necessary to return to the bar, and save several pictures from that security video to your own personal memory device?" Abbie who had been pacing in front of the jury, turned to Olivia, hoping to see the detective flabbergasted.

Her heart fell when she saw the knowing smile on Olivia's face. She had fucking planned for this too.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N Thanks again for reading and reviewing, always encouraging… I hope you're enjoying the court case so far, I hope I'm not making it completely suck out loud! If it does suck, I apologise…**

"That was sort of our unofficial first date," Olivia stated, looking Abbie straight in the eyes. She was a good liar, Abbie had to give her that. "I wanted to take some pictures to show Miss Novak later. I thought it would make a nice memento. Unfortunately, we split up before then."

"Right," Abbie said, gathering her thoughts. She needed to come back with something. She shuffled some papers on her desk for a moment, as a brief stall tactic. "So Detective Benson, it is your claim that Miss Novak fabricated this whole rape story to cover up that she is in fact a closet homosexual, correct?"

Olivia shrugged, "you'd have to ask Miss Novak, but that's the only reason I can think of."

"So, at that time, to the best of your knowledge, no one knew, or even suspected the alleged relationship between yourself and Miss Novak?" Abbie asked.

"That's right." Olivia agreed.

"All right." Abbie said, walking back to her desk. She stopped halfway there, and paused, turning slowly as though a thought had suddenly struck her. Back when Abbie was young, she had actually wanted to be a police detective herself, inspired by her secret hero, Columbo. Eventually, she had wound up going to law school instead, but even in court, she still liked to use his most famous line. She raised one finger in the air, "Just one more thing detective. If as you say, Miss Novak was desperate to keep you relationship a secret, so much so that she would let you end things with her before she'd go public with it, then explain to me this: Why on earth would she file serious, false charges against you, thereby, making this whole thing way more public than a little inter-office gossip ever could?"

She saw the detective flinch for the first time, "I uh, guess she was angrier than I thought."

Abbie raised her eyebrows, "I guess that's _a_ theory." She said, sarcastically. "No further questions."

************

"It's killing me not knowing what's going on in there." Alex said. She had arrived a few minutes after court was back in session and Casey had filled her in on the details so far. They didn't know whether Abbie was going to call herself, or Casey to the stand first. It all depended how the case went.

"Me too." Casey said, staring absently at the heavy wooden doors.

"This is why I like that I working homicide," Alex said, "killing someone is flat out illegal, whether they ask you to or not. With sex crimes, as long as there's no underage kids involved, even if you can prove that the event took place, then you've gotta somehow prove that the act wasn't actually consensual."

Casey gave a wry smile, "and as soon as they make all sex illegal, my job will be much easier."

"Hey Casey, I'm sorry I tried to convince you not to testify, that was so incredibly wrong," Alex said, taking a seat next to Casey. Casey immediately shuffled away making a space between them, but gave Alex an apologetic smile.

"It's all right, I think Liv's fucked us both up pretty bad. I've done things that are pretty out of character myself."

"Can't be worse than what I did," Alex sighed, "I told Al this morning. About me and Liv. That's why it took me so long to get here."

Casey cringed, "How'd she take it?"

"She left. Said she was going to stay with a friend for a while. But I don't think she's coming back."

Casey shuffled tentatively closer on the bench, cautiously placing a hand on Alex's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, maybe it's for the best." Alex sighed.

"It's not your fault you know. You've been keeping all this… shitty stuff bottled up inside, I mean, have you ever talked to anyone about this?"

Alex shrugged, "Nope. Never had anyone to talk about it to really. Who would understand?"

"Hey," Casey said gently, "you've got me now. And unfortunately, I understand what your going through _way_ more than I'd ever want to."

Alex finally met Casey's eyes, "Thanks." Just then, John Munch popped his head in through the doors.

"All right kiddo, you're up next, just to warn you." He nodded at Casey, "Carmichael's calling you, she said to come back here and let you know."

Casey rose to her feet and drew in a deep breath. Composing herself for what lay ahead. Right on cue, the Bailiff opened the door.

"Casey Novak?" He said, glancing around. Casey was about to follow him when she felt a hand squeeze her own softly.

"You're going to do great Case," Alex said. That meant the trepidation she was feeling inside was observable to onlookers. Casey jutted her chin out and affected her best neutral expression."I know." She said, marching after the bailiff into the waiting courtroom.

************

Casey had to catch herself to make sure she didn't accidentally take a seat at the prosecutions desk, the fact that Carmichael already occupied that space helped. She quickly made her way to the witness stand, focusing on Elliot out in the gallery, not letting her eyes be drawn to Olivia who she could feel staring at her from the defence table. Once she was sworn in, Abbie approached the stand, miming 'look at me' to Casey before beginning.

"Miss Novak," She began. Abbie quickly rattled through the preliminaries, asking Casey to recount that days events, which she did, clinically, and numbly, until she got to the part where Olivia had cuffed her, and had her against the wall.

"What happened next?"

Casey swallowed hard. She had gone over all these questions with Abbie the day before. She had to be thorough, the jury needed a picture painting, and not a pretty one. It would have been hard enough for her just to utter the words 'then she raped me', in court, let alone the detailed recounting they had rehearsed.

"She told me were done talking. She dragged me into the bedroom, pushed me onto the bed and took off my pants." Casey felt her eyes begin to well up. She tipped her head slightly backward, hoping to somehow force the tears back into their ducts. It was useless. "She climbed on top of me and started to kiss me. I noticed that my cell phone was still on the bed, so I pressed down a speed dial key, hoping I might be able to alert someone to what was happening."

"Did you tell her to stop?" Abbie asked.

"Yes. Several times. But she wouldn't listen."

Abbie nodded, "What happened next?"

"She heard the phone, she grabbed it, then she pulled her gun out and put it to my neck so I wouldn't talk while she told Elliot everything was alright then hung up." Casey glanced over at Olivia, whose face was passive.

"Then what happened?" Abbie asked, willing her on.

"She uncuffed me and made me undress at gunpoint. Then she told me to cuff myself to the bed. Which I did." By now she could feel hot tears streaming down her face. Abbie walked back to the prosecution desk.

"The people's exhibit A your honour," She said, producing a blown-up photograph of Casey's wrists, allowing the jury to hand in around themselves before continuing, "Miss Novak's wrists four days after the attack. The doctors report shows that these marks could have been caused by nothing other than metal handcuffs, and…" she returned to her desk again, procuring a Ziploc evidence bag, "…the people's exhibit B. The handcuffs issued to Detective Benson for duty. Lab tests found trace DNA on these cuffs indicating that they had indeed been used on Miss Novak." She let the bag fall back onto the desk with a loud clunk for emphasis. "Please continue," She nodded to Casey.

"She put the gun down on the nightstand and climbed on top of me again. I asked her why she was doing this, and she just said because she could." Casey breath had become shallow and shivery. Under Abbie's gentle questioning, she slowly recounted in graphic detail exactly how the attack had gone. Abbie had displayed photographs of the injuries to the jury, and Casey was faintly comforted by their shocked reactions to the photos. One female juror had even gasped audibly.

"Finally Miss Novak," Abbie said, even her voice was hitching after Casey's emotional testimony, but she kept it together, "what took you so long to report the rape? You even came into the office on the Monday after the attack."

"I didn't think anyone would believe me." Casey said. Abbie stood in front of her, cocking her head to the side. Still waiting. "And I was scared." Casey ground out finally.

"Scared of Olivia? That she might attack you again?" Abbie asked. Casey reluctantly looked across at Olivia, who was staring at her from the defence table with sad eyes.

"Yes." Casey said, pulling her eyes away from the detectives, ashamed that she couldn't hold her gaze.

"Thank you Casey," Abbie said. "Your witness." She practically spat at Whitaker, who still looked supremely confident as he buttoned his jacket and strode to the witness stand.

************

"Miss Novak, that was quite a moving speech you just gave, but I guess you're used to delivering touching addresses in court, what, being a sex crimes prosecutor yourself,"

Abbie immediately jumped to her feet, looking infuriated, "is there a question _anywhere_ in there Your Honour?" She asked the judge.

"Be careful Mr. Whitaker." Judge Saunders glared.

"All right, you told the court that Olivia entered your apartment, you got up from the couch, where you had just finished conducting a telephone conversation with Detective Elliot, correct so far?" Casey nodded. The Judge leaned toward her.

"Casey, you'll need to answer audibly." He said softly. Judge Saunders did have a soft spot for Casey. When his name had come up, she was sure he was going to be forced to recuse himself also, but obviously, Whitaker didn't know of his affinity for her. Donnelly's was obvious, her being Casey's former boss.

"Yes, that is correct so far." Casey said.

"So, you were on the couch, Olivia came in…" Whitaker placed a hand on his chin and pulled a thoughtful face. "Am I missing something here? Had you left your apartment door unlocked?"

"No." Casey sighed, knowing where this was going.

"Oh. So how did she get in, without you unlocking the door?" Whitaker asked.

"She had a spare key." Casey said.

"She had a spare key?" He repeated, "do you mean to tell the court that the defendant at some point managed to secure your apartment keys, and get a copy made unbeknownst to yourself?"

"No, I gave it to her."

"Interesting, you _gave _Detective Benson a key to your apartment." Whitaker said.

Casey shook her head, "it's not like that, I gave it to her some time ago, it was in case of an emergency. Detective Stabler has one too." She added, then mentally cursed herself. Whitaker latched on instantly.

"But were you not in fact involved in a romantic relationship with Detective Stabler at that time?"

"Objection your honour, relevance?" Casey said instinctively.

"Miss Novak, may I remind you that you are not here in your capacity as an ADA and therefore have no authority to object."

Abbie put her hand up, "Well I do, and I was just about to. The nature of Miss Novak's relationship with Detective Stabler has no relevance to this case…"

"Its pertinent because Miss Novak claims she only gave a copy of her apartment keys to the defendant, and Detective Stabler in case of an emergency, the defence contests that she actually gave them to Detective Benson because she was involved in a romantic relationship with her. Miss Novak was the one who brought Stabler into this."

Judge Saunders rolled his eyes, "I'm going to have to side with Mr. Whitaker on this one, Miss Novak opened that door when she defended her decision to give a spare key to the defendant by stating she also gave one to Detective Stabler. Objection overruled, Miss Novak, please answer the question."

"Yes." Casey said, "but I gave them both keys to my apartment long before I started going out with Elliot."

"All right, so the defendant entered your apartment, using her key, and you got into an argument."

"Yes." Casey said, glad in some ways that she was now angry rather than upset.

"Then you had sex." Whitaker said.

"Then she _raped_ me." Casey corrected.

Whitaker brushed it aside with a change of subject, "Miss Novak, is it your assertion that you were not, and have never been in a relationship of a sexual nature with the defendant?"

"Yes."

"Miss Novak, do you identify yourself as exclusively heterosexual?"

Casey leant forward and answered very deliberately, "yes."

"Would you agree that many persons who are homosexual often engage in heterosexual relationships in an attempt to cover up the fact that they are homosexual, for fear of repercussions, what people might think, how family members might react?" Whitaker asked, leaning one elbow on the witness stand.

"Yes, but I'm not one of them. This is New York Mr. Whitaker, what possible reason could I have for hiding it if I was?" Casey asked, scowling at him.

"Miss Novak, would you please state your religion for the court?"

"Objection, again, relevance." Abbie said. The Judge looked at Whitaker.

"Your Honour, Miss Novak asked the question 'why might she hide it', the defence is trying to answer that." Whitaker said.

"I'll allow it, overruled." Judge Saunders grunted.

"Catholic." Casey muttered, before Saunders even had to tell her to answer.

"Tell me Miss Novak, what exactly is the Catholic Churches view on homosexuality?" He asked.

Casey shrugged, "they aren't exactly all for it as I hear, but I'm not what you'd call devout. Sure, I went to Sunday school, but these days I'm afraid to say I only really make the Easter and Christmas mass."

"With your family I assume?" Whitaker said. Casey had started to fidget and Abbie didn't like the look of it. Whitaker was taking this line of questioning somewhere very specific.

"Yes."

"Are your parents what you might call 'devout'?" Whitaker asked.

"I guess." Casey answered.

"How do you think they would react if you were to tell them say, that you had entered into a relationship with another woman?" Whitaker asked.

"I have no idea. Not being homosexual myself, I've never needed to consider it."

Whitaker paused, "so, and think very carefully before you answer this Miss Novak, are you saying you have no way of knowing how your parents would react if you told them you were homosexual?"

Casey was working her jaw hesitantly, and Abbie wondered why.

"No." She said finally.

"Really?" Whitaker smiled like the cat who had not only got the cream, but a nice bag of catnip in the bargain. "Miss Novak, do you know a Mr. Zachary Dent?"

Casey squeezed her eyes shut. "Yes."

"What is your relation to him?" Whitaker asked.

"He's my brother." Casey said quietly.

"Your brother?" Whitaker asked "Miss Novak, Zachary Dent does not share your family name, is he a step brother, or adopted maybe?"

"No, we both have the same parents." Casey said.

"So, why'd he change his name?" Whitaker asked, flicking a quick smirk back at Abbie so she knew he was about to show the Ace in his sleeve.

"He got married."

"Well that's a bit unconventional Miss Novak," He said, rubbing his chin in mock thought again, "isn't it standard for the wife to take the name of her husband?"

Casey's stole an apologetic glance at Abbie, "Zach married a man. He took his husbands name." She admitted.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N Sorry its been so long since the last update, busy weekend! Anyhow, here is the update, language warning again, but I think that's a given. Thanks again for reading and reviewing, and for putting up with my rather long and rambling story (I swear, this was supposed to be like 5000 words tops, but it just got out of hand somewhere!)**

The court was in recess for lunch and Abbie Carmichael was on the warpath. She quickly tracked down Casey Novak at the DA's office and found her having lunch in her office with Elliot Stabler and Alex Cabot. All of them had looked up, surprised when she had stormed in. Abbie was okay with that, she had meant to make an entry,

"Casey, you were a breath away from perjury in there and I want to know why." She steamed.

Casey fixed the other lawyer with an icy glare, "how the hell was I supposed to know Whitaker was going to bring my brother into it?"

"Don't play dumb Casey," Abbie chided "you knew exactly where that line of questioning was headed, I could see it on your face!"

"Oh, and what should I have said?" Casey said, volume matching Abbie's. "'Why yes, I know exactly what they'd do, they'd disown and disinherit me, and then pretend I don't exist, just like my big brother Zach!'"

Abbie was furious, but she realised she needed to calm down. She took the empty seat, opposite Casey, "I have every sympathy for you as a victim here Casey, but I am fast running out of patience with you as a witness. Another stunt like that, I'm tabling the offer we talked about earlier. Counselling, no jail time."

Casey's expression turned stony, "are you threatening to throw the case if I don't do as you say?"

"No, I'm threatening to salvage something from this if you come that close to trashing the case and getting your own ass thrown in jail. No more surprises. I want to know everything. Do we understand each other?" Casey rolled her eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly. Abbie hadn't had much dealings with the younger ADA, but what she'd heard from Judges and others at the DA's office, she was a damn fine lawyer whose only flaw was a stubborn streak the size of Abbie's home state, Texas. She didn't want to be harsh, but it was the only way Casey was going to listen to her, and after all, Abbie was only trying to protect Casey from throwing away the case, and maybe even her job.

"I didn't think it was relevant to tell you at the time, how the fuck did he even find out?" Casey said, crossing her arms defensively. Elliot sat at her side, watching the exchange carefully, no doubt ready to leap in at a moments notice should their previously escalating argument start to heat up again.

"Have you ever mentioned it to Olivia? Maybe she told him." Alex suggested.

Casey shook her head, "no, it's not something that's ever come up."

Abbie grimaced, "well, how he found out is irrelevant. What I need now is some way to rebut that."

Casey shrugged, "Screw it, don't even try. I don't care if the Jury thinks I'm a lesbian. Even if I was, it would still be rape. Hell, we're putting Alex on the stand." Alex glared over her glasses at Casey,

"I'm not a lesbian." Elliot and Abbie both stared wide eyed at her startling admission.

Casey blinked slowly, confused, "and what, you've only just figured this out this afternoon…"

"I'm Bi." Alex interrupted.

"Oh." Abbie, Casey and Elliot murmured in unison.

"Never mind," Alex said, once the ensuing uncomfortable silence had reached an apex, "that clarification was unnecessary. Casey's right. We don't need to prove Casey isn't a lesbian to prove she was raped. I vote we skip right on over that and put me on the stand."

"I know what you're saying," Abbie said, glancing between the two blonde lawyers, "but you know if we don't attempt a rebuttal the jury will think it's true. And if it's true, then that makes Casey a liar, and then her whole testimony is suspect."

"Leave it to me," Casey sighed. "I was still on the stand when we broke for lunch and I'm sure Whitaker has a few more questions for me. I'll do some damage control."

Abbie raised an eyebrow, but relented. "Alright, so we let Casey do her thing, then I'll call Cabot and we're all in."

Alex chewed the end of her pen idly, "I don't know. We only need one juror to go for Olivia's spurned lover defence and we're looking at an acquittal, and despite Casey's physical injuries, we've still got a major 'he said, she said' situation."

"It's actually a 'she said, she said' situation," Elliot corrected, with a mirthful smile. The three lawyers shot him death glares. "Uh, anyone for coffee? I'll get coffee." He said, as he quickly exited the room.

Once he was gone, Casey turned to Alex, "So what are you saying?"

Alex took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, "I'm saying, it's not to late to plead her out."

"No. Fucking. Way." Casey said, saying each word slowly and deliberately.

"Easy Casey, " Abbie warned.

"Casey, it's all or nothing here," Alex said, her tone harsh, "if we lose, Olivia is sure as hell gonna go after you for making a false rape allegation, and you know what, with a not guilty verdict from this trial, that is going to be one short court case. So if you want to throw your career, and probably your freedom on the line with those odds, then be our guest."

Casey got up from her seat, leaning in to Alex who was stationed on the same side of the desk as her, "as if you give a damn about me! This is about you and Olivia. Tell me, how many more little 'meetings' have you had with her since she told you to make me hush up, huh?"

Alex got up from her seat, staring Casey down, "I didn't want you to go to trial because I didn't think you could handle it. You still can't even sleep alone. Remember when Elliot was called out? I had to stay with you all night, and it took hours to get you to sleep…"

Alex felt a hand connect briskly with her cheek. Casey was staring at her, hurt and embarrassment plain on her face, and Alex immediately knew she had gone too far. Abbie had hopped up from her own chair and was stood between the two in case things got any more physical, but there wasn't much risk of that. Casey sat back down, arms crossed, face obstinate. Alex wanted to apologise, but wasn't sure if that would just further piss Casey off.

Alex remembered how hard it had been for Casey that night, Eames was already fast asleep when she'd heard a tentative rap on the door. She'd uttered a vague 'come in' type sound, and seen Casey pop her head in, shoulders wrapped in a blanket, strawberry blonde hair mussed. She looked like an eight-year-old, wanting to come sleep with her parents in case the boogeyman was under her bed. Even in the dim light, Alex could see Casey's eyes were wet. She and Eames had gone to bed just over an hour ago, and Casey had promised she'd be fine sleeping on the couch, even though Elliot had been called out on a case, and wouldn't be back until morning, so Alex had left it at that. Clearly, she wasn't fine.

Alex had shaken herself into a vague sense of alertness and slid out of bed, tucking Eames in quickly so she wouldn't miss the warmth. She followed Casey into the living room, where they both sat on the couch. Casey remained wrapped in her blanket, staring at her own feet.

"Are you okay?" Alex had asked. A judder worked over Casey's shoulders and she shook her head just slightly for no. It was obvious she was trying not to cry. Alex shuffled closer and cautiously put an arm around Casey's shoulder. "Casey you don't have to do the whole tough girl act for me, I know what you're going through here, ok?"

That had been enough, and Casey had finally broken down, Alex had held her through her sobs, letting her cry until she was completely exhausted, and finally sprawled out on the couch. Alex was going to leave, but Casey was reluctant to let her go, so instead, she joined Casey on the couch. When Casey had cuddled up tight to her, head resting on her chest, she had been both honoured that Casey trusted her enough to be so close, and worried that Eames might awaken, enter the living room and misread the situation. But she had stayed anyway, falling asleep a little after Casey had.

The morning after had been exceptionally awkward, with Casey being deliberately brisk with her, clearly embarrassed to have shared such a vulnerable moment.

And now Alex had brought it up in the heat of a petty argument. Alex was wondering exactly when she had decided to part company with her empathy when she was shocked back to the present by Abbie.

"Listen you two, I'm not going to have you bickering like ten year olds, if you can't get on, don't. I don't give a damn. All I care about if winning this case and…"

Casey cut in, "you have no right to talk to me like I'm a fucking child…

Suddenly, Casey was cut off by a booming voice from the doorway, in their argument, none of them had noticed that someone had entered the office.

"Well I do. And watch you language young lady!"

All off them turned to see a tall, impeccably dressed stern looking man. He was around his early sixties, and had a head full of pure white hair.

Casey grimaced, "Hi Dad."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N Okay, in the third section (when they are back in court), I wholly made up the whole California reference, lets just call it artistic license. I just imagine it would take lawyers to draw up ballot proposals and shit like that… feel free to tell me if I'm wrong! Actually, don't.**

**Oh, and as for Casey's age in this, well, it never said it in the series, so I made it up…**

After initially being taken aback, Casey introduced him, "Alex, Abbie, this is my Dad, um…Casey Novak Senior."

"_General_ Casey Novak Senior," her father corrected.

"Would you like a seat?" She asked him, gesturing to the plentiful empty seats which had been exited when the lawyer brawl had nearly ensued prior to her fathers surprise entry.

"I don't need permission to sit in my daughters office, and I prefer to stand. Now are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on here Titch, or do I need to get it from one of your other little lawyer friends?" Casey visibly winced at his use of her pet name.

"Could you give me a second to finish up here Dad?" Casey said, fidgeting nervously with her desk lamp.

"Five minutes." He growled, stalking toward the door, before he reached it, a young looking, wide eyed legal secretary popped her head in.

"Ms. Novak, there is a visitor for you…um…in your office." She gulped, looking at Casey's father who had clearly gotten past her.

"Evidently. Thanks for the heads up Steph," Casey glared, as her father followed her out of Casey's office, shutting the door noisily behind him.

"Just when I thought this day couldn't get any better." Casey muttered, running a hand through her strawberry-blonde hair.

Abbie looked Casey up and down. All five feet and ten inches of her. She had to ask, "Titch?"

Casey flicked her eyes up, "I've got three older brothers, the two eldest, Robert and Dan followed Dad into the army, Zachary went to med school. I came along twelve years after Zach. A surprise, or an 'accident'," Casey made air quotes, "if my Dad tells it; I've always been the baby of the family, and the nickname seems to have stuck."

Alex scrunched her nose, "You're named after your Dad?"

Casey nodded, "Yeah, I think my parents were pissed with me for ruining their early retirement plans."

"What's your Dad doing here?" Abbie asked.

"Can we please focus on the case at hand?" Casey asked, returning to her seat, glancing at her watch irritably.

"I don't think he meant five minutes, literally." Abbie said, bemused.

"I don't think you know my Dad." Casey said.

************

Elliot returned to the DA's office and headed for Casey's office, but was immediately headed off by a frazzled looking young legal secretary.

"Ms. Novak is not in the office today." She said. When Elliot looked puzzled, she made air quotes and whispered, "'officially'".

"Don't worry, I'm only here to bring her coffee, 'unofficially'" He stressed the words, as his coffee occupied hands prevented his own interpretation of the classic bunny fingers.

"Oh," She said, glancing back to an angry looking older man who was glaring at his watch and tapping his foot at her desk, then back to Casey's office door.

"Who's that?" Elliot asked, pointing with his brows at the man. The man definitely had hearing unbefitting for his age. He had heard Elliot's question and strolled up. He had a looming presence about him, and Elliot instinctively freed his hands, setting the coffees down on a nearby desk.

"Casey Novak," he said, sticking a hand out, which Elliot shook it firmly and the man glanced down at the tattoo his forearm. "Marine?"

Elliot nodded, "Elliot Stabler, former marine. I'm a Detective with the NYPD, sorry, did you say your name was…" Elliot began, but the older man interrupted.

"General Casey Novak, yes." He nodded. Elliot looked confused, until the Casey Novak he was familiar with exited her office, starting when she saw that Elliot was speaking to the man.

"Elliot, hi, this is my Dad, Casey Novak _Senior_, Dad this is my…" Her words fell away before she quickly tacked on, "Detective Stabler."

Her father raised an eyebrow, "_Your _Detective Stabler."

Casey looked a little flustered, "I meant Detective Stabler. Can we talk later? I'm due in court." She tried to skirt round her father, but her caught her by the upper arm as she passed.

"I'm sorry, next time I'll book a fucking appointment." He growled. Elliot watched the interaction carefully.

"I'm sorry Dad, it's just it is the middle of the day, and I'm at work." Casey explained weakly.

"It can wait." Her Dad said. "Now do you want to explain to me why the hell I got a phone call two days ago from a Lawyer named Jason Whitaker, telling me he needed to ask a few questions about our family since you were involved in a court case?"

"I'm a lawyer," Casey said, doing a good impersonation of nonchalant. "I'm involved in a _lot _of court cases."

"Don't be a smartass Casey." Her father warned. Elliot didn't like his tone. Casey clearly didn't either, and she gave Elliot an imploring look.

"Sir, would you mind taking your hand off of her?" Elliot said, politely removing the General's hand from Casey's arm. He turned immediately to Elliot, eyes vicious.

"Mr. Stabler, do you have children?"

Elliot rolled his eyes, wondering if 'father' was written across his forehead, he couldn't count how many people had asked him that same question, "four."

"Well then," General Novak said curtly, "I don't tell you how to raise your kids, I'd appreciate if you would afforded me the same privilege."

"I'm twenty-nine Dad. I think you can consider me risen." Casey said, sardonically. The General immediately turned back to his daughter, walking her back into the hallway wall, leaning in uncomfortably close.

"Do _not_ take that tone with me Casey." He said, in a deep rumbling voice that even made Elliot himself jump. Casey held his glare for only a few seconds before giving in, casting her gaze down to her feet. Elliot felt a stirring in his stomach and unnerving memories of his own father which he liked to keep buried deep began to flash in front of his eyes. Before he knew what was happening, he had pulled the man away from Casey, and had his forearm pressed across his chest, pinning him.

"Elliot!" Casey said, sounding both confused and mildly relieved.

"Get the fuck off me!" General Novak spat, pushing Elliot away with strength surprising for his age. Elliot slowed his breathing, ground his teeth and started a slow count to ten.

"Sorry," He said, once the count up was finished. General Novak was furiously readjusting his suit jacket.

"You will be, who is your supervisor?" He snapped. Before Elliot could open his mouth, Casey cut in.

"Dad please, can we do this later, I have to be in court in ten minutes."

"What the hell for?" Her father asked again.

Elliot couldn't stand it anymore, "Your daughter was raped." He blurted out.

"What?" Her father looked between Elliot and Casey. "Who was it? Were you seeing him? Did he attack you…" He started. Casey put a hand up.

"It was a Detective from the department I work with." She answered. From the angry sideways glances she was giving Elliot, he knew he hadn't said the right thing.

"What's his name?" Her father asked. Casey shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

"It was a she." She said, finally.

Her Father looked confused, "what the fuck are you talking about? Have you gone the same way as Zachary?" Just then, Casey's office door opened, and Abbie and Alex joined them.

"We've got to get over to the courthouse," Abbie said, "we have less than ten minutes before the trial starts up again."

Her father still looked angry, and confused, "fine. I'll be waiting at your apartment when you're finished. Come straight back, no detours." he said, holding a hand, palm up to Casey. Casey rolled her eyes, then fished into her pocket and placed a set of keys into his waiting hand. He pushed them into his pocket and stormed off without a word.

"What's he going to do next, ground you?" Alex asked.

"He'd probably try," Casey said, annoyance apparent in her voice as she stared daggers at the departing back of her father.

"Well he's a delightful man." Elliot said, stepping closer to Casey, glad when she slipped one hand into his.

"Just like my Dad to be more worried about me being gay than being raped." She sighed.

"He always like that?" Elliot asked.

Casey nodded, "pretty much. He seems to think raising kids is the same as commanding a squadron. In fact, I'm pretty sure he once said that…"

"Why'd you give him your apartment keys?" Alex asked.

Casey smirked, "because I've moved apartments since I last saw him."

Abbie couldn't hide a giggle, "I wouldn't like to be whoever's living at your old place."

"Let's just get to the courthouse," Casey said, starting down the hallway with Elliot in tow, "I'll deal with my Dad after."

************

Back in court, Casey was still on the stand, and Whitaker hadn't handed proceedings back to the defence yet.

"Miss Novak, before recess you were telling us about how your Father and Mother disowned their youngest son, Zachary when he announced that he was homosexual…"

"Correct." Casey cut in, irritably.

"So, wouldn't it be safe to assume if your parents were to find out that you were homosexual, they would disown you also?"

Casey shrugged, "maybe. Like I said, never thought about it."

"All right, let me put this another way…" Casey cut in again.

"Mister Whitaker, Lionel Grainger is a partner at the firm you work for, your direct superior in fact, correct."

Whitaker looked perplexed, but nodded, "yes."

Casey smiled, "Mister Grainger is an acquaintance of mine, but we definitely have our differences in opinion. Is it not correct that Mister Grainger has been away from the New York branch these last few months, visiting the Californian branch of your firm to help them draw up a petition on behalf of the public, which many in the court might know as Proposition eight, a ballot proposal outlawing same-sex marriage?"

Whitaker neatened his tie, fidgeting, "that's correct, but completely irrelevant…"

"Really? Because I think that proves that your Boss is opposed to homosexuality, which means _you _would , Mister Whitaker, have a pretty strong motive to hide it, if you were gay." Casey said.

"But that doesn't prove that I am." Whitaker shot back immediately, then shut his eyes, realizing what he had just said. Casey smiled, and resisted the urge to say 'the prosecution rests'. Abbie smiled at her from behind the prosecution desk. Whitaker looked a little deflated.

"Your witness." He said to Abbie. Abbie shrugged.

"No further questions your honour."

"Miss Novak you may step down." Judge Saunders said.

"The Prosecution calls Ms. Alexandra Cabot to the stand." Abbie said, once Casey had left.

************

Alex was getting tired of being on this side of the witness stand.

She kept her eyes focused on Abbie as she paced the courtroom, coaching Alex on as she recounted numbly her relationship with Olivia. The first slap. The first punch. The first time she forced her down on the bed. The first time she had to lie to hospital staff about why she needed five stitches above her left eyebrow. The first broken rib. The first time she was certain she was going to die at Olivia's hands, when the punches and kicks wouldn't stop coming. All the while, she knew that the jury were looking at her. The people in the gallery were looking at her, hell even Abbie was probably looking at her and wondering why the hell she couldn't defend herself. Olivia was strong for a woman, but still, she wasn't exactly a formidable opponent.

The truth was, Alex had never even tried to fight back. At first it had been because she thought it was a one off, and she loved Olivia too much to ever hit her back.

But eventually, it had been about fear. She was scared of Olivia, scared shitless.

And she still was.

As she continued to reel off the pre-prepared testimony near verbatim, Alex's mind wandered back to that evening, when Olivia had come to her apartment. After Olivia had broke the hug, taken Alex's face into her hands. Staring into those brown eyes, Alex had frozen. Olivia had kissed her, and slowly started to unbutton Alex's blouse. Alex knew she should have stopped her, but her heart had been thudding in her chest, as familiar fingers had roamed over her torso, Alex knew she needed to get out of there. But she had been terrified, and instinctively, she had played possum. She let Olivia do what she wanted, then leave, because she was frightened of being hurt.

In that instant, she hated herself . All those years as the Special Victims Unit ADA, she had seen people come through, battered beyond belief because they had resisted the abuse of their bodies, and she had just rolled over and let it happen, just to avoid pain.

Alex felt disgusted with herself, but in that instant, she knew what they needed to do to put winning the case beyond doubt.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N Another update! I've nearly finished this story now, just need to settle on a suitable ending :-S. I have a few ideas…. Apologies again for quality, suffering from complete lack of sleep still!**

"Your witness," Abbie said. The words jarred Alex off auto-pilot. She needed her wits to go toe-to-toe with Whitaker. When Jason Whitaker had arrived at the precinct as Olivia Bensons defence attorney, Casey had mentioned that she had gone up against him previously, and that he was shit.

Unfortunately, she had later clarified that she meant his morals and attitude were shit.

As a lawyer, he was actually quite proficient, and handsome, Alex noted as the young lawyer strode up to the witness stand, hands in pockets. He flashed her a broad smile, dimpling his clean-shaven cheeks.

"Miss Cabot, that is quite the catalogue of injuries you claim you have sustained." He said.

"I don't just _claim _to have sustained them. My medical records were submitted into evidence, haven't you had a chance to look at them yet?" Alex asked curtly, leaning forward to give him her favourite, condescending over-the-glasses look.

"Yes, I did Miss Cabot." He nodded, walking over to his desk and picking up a black binder. He returned to the witness stand, leaning an elbow on the bench in front of her as he licked his index finger for purchase then began to page through the contents. "Terrible." he said, scrunching his brow sympathetically. Alex curtailed the urge to tell him to just get the hell on with it.

"It says here that you sustained two broken ribs, and badly bruised another three, you had have your arm in a sling for a few weeks, god. I bruised two of my ribs playing football in high school, and that was bad enough. That must have been painful."

Alex nodded, "It was."

"It also says in your records that these injuries were sustained falling down the stairs." He added.

"That is what I told them at the time." Alex agreed.

"So, you lied?" He asked.

"I did."

"And when you sustained a deep gash above your left eye, requiring stitches, and you told hospital staff that you walked into an open cupboard door, you were lying then also?" He asked.

"Yes." Alex agreed with a heavy sigh. She knew where this was going, she almost felt like finishing the cross-exam for him.

"Miss Cabot, didn't anyone ever think that these explanations for your injuries were a little flimsy? I mean, you could have hid some of them, but having your arm in a sling for a few weeks, the stitches, and several other facial injuries, you couldn't have covered those up." Whitaker said, staring intently at her. Alex avoided his gaze and cast her eyes to the jury.

"No. My relationship with Olivia Benson was common knowledge both in the squad room and the DA's office. No one ever suspected that she was capable of that. I know it sounds incredulous now, looking back at it all." Alex said "but everyone found it easier to believe my lame stories than to believe that Olivia would hurt me."

Whitaker nodded, "why wouldn't they believe that?"

Alex shrugged, "she's a she for starters. It's not something people think of."

Whitaker tilted his head to the side, then strode over to address the jury himself, "I suppose. But isn't it also because it is just not in Olivia Benson's character to hurt another human being? This woman," he pointed back at Olivia who was sat, looking impeccably docile at the defence desk, "is a Police Detective who has dedicated her _life _to defending the weak and mistreated. She works in the special victims unit, locking up the very kind of person you Miss Cabot are claiming she is. Now doesn't sound the tiniest bit incredible to you?"

Alex crossed her arms, "no Mister Whitaker, it actually sounds utterly ridiculous."

He turned back toward her, thrown off balance. It obviously wasn't the answer he was expecting.

"Right," He said, fidgeting with his tie, trying to find his bearings.

"When the truth is that unbelievable, do you need to wonder why I felt I had to lie about it back then?" Alex said, striking back before he had a chance to adjust to the change in pace.

"So, what's to say you're telling the truth right now?" Whitaker asked, voice having more than a slight 'I-meant-to-do-that' ring to it.

"Because it's happened to someone else." Alex said.

"Allegedly." Whitaker added. "No further questions."

"Re-direct your honour," Abbie said as she approached the witness stand.

"Miss Cabot, Mister Whitaker made the point that you lied about these injuries you sustained."

"Yes," Alex nodded, not sure where Carmichael was planning on taking this.

"But now you claim to be telling the truth." Abbie said.

"Correct."

"Back when you were with Olivia, had you told what you claim to be the truth, what would have happened?"

"I don't know. She thought I had told someone once, she punched the hell out of me. I don't know what she'd have done if I had told someone for real. And I never wanted to find out."

"Right," Abbie said, "so you had motive to lie about the multiple injuries, fear that is."

Alex shut her eyes, grimacing, "yes." she managed eventually.

"But now, what possible motive could you have for making up this story? We're passed the statute of limitations on the rape, and we can't even prosecute Miss Benson for the assaults on you. You don't really stand to gain anything, do you Miss Cabot?" Abbie asked.

"If I had come forward about this back when we were together, then Casey would never have been assaulted." Alex said, keeping her voice tight, the last thing she needed was to break down on the stand, no matter how much sympathy it might elicit from the jury. "I blame myself for that, and I always will. That's why I'm here. I stood back and let it happen to me, and now someone else has gotten hurt. What I stand to gain from this is closure. I didn't stop her from hurting me, and she wound up hurting someone else. I can't let it happened again, and I won't."

Abbie nodded, they hadn't rehearsed this part, but she had definitely said the right thing, "no further questions."

Whitaker remained sat.

************

After Alex had stepped down, Abbie had called a Medical Expert, a doctor she often called on in such circumstances, to confirm that it was highly unlikely that Alex's catalogue of injuries had been sustain through sheer clumsiness on her part, and were most likely inflicted during an attack. After that, Whitaker had called a few old cops that Olivia had worked with when she was in uniform. He had also called Detective Tutuola, who had divided the squad by being on Olivia's side when he'd found out about her arrest. Abbie had done her best on the cross-exam, shooting down the witnesses with (true) accusations that they in fact knew very little about Benson outside of work. Overall, it had been a successful day as far as the Prosecution was concerned.

************

They had agreed to meet up at a bar nearby, Casey and Elliot had arrived first. Alex Cabot had snuck off to call Eames and try to do some damage control, Abbie needed to finish up on some paperwork before the end of the day. Elliot had gone to the bathroom, leaving Casey alone at the bar. She was there for a few minutes when she practically leapt out of her skin when someone pinched her shoulders from behind.

"Hey, easy titch!" A familiar voice called out behind her. The unexpected visitor sat on the barstool next to her, grinning at her jumpy reaction. He ordered himself a bottle of European lager.

"How the hell did you find me?" Casey asked, frowning.

"You're new hair is visible from several states away." He said, ruffling her blonder locks. "Seriously, titch, not a good look. I liked your red hair." Casey swatted his hands off.

"You're one to talk Zach, nice highlights." She mocked. His closely cropped brown hair had a white-blonde tips all over. He pulled an absurdly shocked face.

"These are high fashion at the moment, not that I'd expect you to know." He said, nudging her with a large elbow.

"How did you find me?" Casey asked again, starting to worry that she had some sort of GPS system installed unbeknownst to her.

"I went to your office, a lady called Abbie sent me over." He explained.

"God, Novaks need to start calling before just showing up." Casey said moodily.

"I left five messages on your phone. And I'm not a Novak anymore, remember." He said.

"Dent." Casey rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you changed it, Zach Novak had a great ring to it." She accentuated the 'ack' in both words.

"I didn't want any reminders," He said, seriously this time. "Case, you are the only member of the family who doesn't pretend I don't exist." He sounded thankful, but Casey always felt awkward when he brought that fact up. She didn't need to add that if any of the rest of the Family knew that she was still in contact with him, they'd disown her too. She remembered trying to hide at the back in his wedding pictures, where she had been honorary 'best man', just in case they were ever seen by their parents. She was twenty-one at the time. She remembered feeling sad when she looked at her brothers partners side of the church, packed with people, his parents on the front row, both had shed a tear during the vows. Zach's side had a few of his friends from college, and she was the only Novak present.

That in itself had nearly made her cry.

"No offence Zach, but why are you here? I'm not exactly in your neighbourhood." She asked.

"Can't I visit my kid sister?" Zach asked, decanting his beer into a glass and taking a sip.

************

Elliot paused as he returned to the bar from the bathroom. Casey was sat at the bar, accompanied by a mysterious man, he looked around Elliot's own age, he was tall, smartly dressed with closely cut highlighted hair and a neatly manicured goatee. It was entirely possible he was trying to pick Casey up, but Casey seemed to be conversing animatedly with him, not giving him the brush off. Elliot approached stealthily, just catching the end of their conversation,

"for the last time, I am not having your baby!" Casey exclaimed. Elliot looked between the two, confused. Casey blushed deep and her visitor began to laugh loudly.

"Elliot, this is my brother Zach, Zach, this is…" Casey's words fell away again, so Elliot interjected.

"Her boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you," Zach said, holding a hand out. Elliot gave it a firm shake. "Sorry if that sounded a little wrong, my partners sister has just decided to be a surrogate, which I'll be the father of, so that it's as close to us having a baby as possible, I keep trying to convince little Casey to lend us her womb, but she's not so keen."

Casey nudged her brother hard, "he talks about it like he's asking to borrow my car or something. And stop calling me little."

"You are Casey _Junior._" He ribbed. "Anyway, you wouldn't be carrying my baby, it would be yours and Dave's."

"I know." Casey sighed. "But it's still a no."

"Okay, okay," Zach said, holding his hands up. "Right, I've beat around the bush long enough. What's happened to you?" He asked.

"Nothing." Casey jumped in, a little too quickly.

"Dad called, ranting as usual. He wanted to know if I had been getting you 'involved' in my kind of 'lifestyle'." Zach said. He cocked an eyebrow at Casey, and Elliot finally saw the resemblance.

"You know Dad." Casey said absently.

"Don't try to bullshit me Casey," Zach said. "I know when something's up, and something's up right now."

Elliot cut in, "Zach, I don't know if now's the time to talk about this."

"El, it's okay." Casey said. "Zach, I'm involved in a court case right now..."

"Right…" Zach said, willing her on.

"I was raped. By a woman who I work with. Her Lawyer called Dad, god knows why." Casey fired out, all in one go. She found it was easier that way, the weighty pauses beforehand just bred apprehension.

"Oh my god." Zach said, staring at Casey, mouth open. He quickly pulled her into a hug. Elliot decided he liked Casey's brother. At least more than he liked Casey's father, but that wasn't saying much.

"How did it happen?" He asked, when he eventually relinquished his vice-like hug.

"I don't want to talk about it right now, I've just come from court, had to recount the whole thing backwards and forwards a million times." Casey said. She ordered another drink, a double Southern Comfort, no ice. Her brother was still reeling from the news. Elliot took the seat on the other side of Casey and put an arm around her.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N Yay! Nearly finished now! Thanks to everyone who is following this, despite it sliding into a strange tangent, it's back on track, and hopefully should be closed in another couple of chapters…**

**As always, review and let me know what I'm doing right/wrong! xxx **

Less than an hour later, Alex arrived at the bar. She had tried, to no avail, to reach Eames, who was presently staying at a friends. Alex had reluctantly left a voicemail. Casey had introduced her brother and the group had moved to a booth. Minutes later, Abbie arrived, accompanied by an extremely perturbed Casey Novak Senior.

"Sorry," Abbie said, as Casey Jr looked between her father and Abbie, "he arrived at the DA's office shortly after you left." Abbie took a seat, but General Novak remained standing.

"Zachary." He said, narrowing his eyes at both of his progeny. "What are you doing here?"

Zach smiled, "I heard New York had a borough called Queens. Boy was I ever disappointed." Her father didn't seem to deem his sons sarcasm worth a reply. He turned to Casey.

"Casey, a word. Now." He said tightly. Casey shifted awkwardly, realizing Elliot's arm was around her shoulders. Elliot stood up instead.

"Mister Novak, I think we need to have a word." He said, steering the older man away from the table. Casey looked worried, but didn't follow.

************

"Are you seeing my daughter?" General Novak asked, once they were out of earshot of the group. Elliot didn't see the point in denying it.

"Yes I am." The general gave him a scrutinising once over, but said nothing further. "Sir, I have three daughters, and I know what I'd be thinking if I was in your shoes…"

Elliot started. The General held a hand up, halting Elliot's discourse.

"Mister Stabler, your having anything in common with myself just confirms what I was already thinking. You're far too old to be courting someone of her age." He said. Elliot shrugged.

"I'll be honest sir," Elliot said, "there isn't a day that goes by when I don't wonder what it is she sees in me. I count myself very lucky to have her. But trust me, I care about her a lot. I'd do anything to protect her."

"You haven't exactly done a sterling job so far," He observed acidly.

"I wasn't there at the time, if I had been…"

"Yes, you just decided to move in whilst she was vulnerable." Her father spat. Elliot realized that he wasn't going to win this man over, and it was time to stop trying.

"Mister Novak, Casey has been to hell and back these last few weeks, and she needs support around her. If you're not going to help, then I suggest you make yourself scarce." Elliot said, returning to the group before the other man had a chance to reply.

************

Elliot slid back into the booth next to Casey, expression uncharacteristically stoic. His face softened a little when she snuggled against him. Her father followed soon after, his mouth was pursed and his cheeks were an angry red.

"Casey, a word." Her father said again tightly.

"Anything you need to say you can say in front of everyone." Casey said, surprised at her own bravery. Her father turned an even deeper crimson.

"Casey, if you don't come with me right now, then don't bother calling me or your mother ever again." He said, and Casey could tell from his expression he was deadly serious.

************

She remembered when she was sixteen, and her father found out she was still speaking to Zachary on the phone in secret. It had been four years since he had come out and she had been there when her father had told him to get out of the house and never come back. Which he hadn't. Her mother, as always, had unquestioningly gone along with her father. Her other two brothers, who by then were married and living away from home, had also sided with him.

But Casey and Zachary had always had a special relationship, he had doted on her as a baby sister, buying her surprise presents, taking her to the park even though the other teenagers teased him for it, whereas her other two brothers had both gone to college before she was in double figures. He'd managed to get in touch with her a year after, and since then, she had called him at least once a week, and even managed to sneak out a few times and see him in person.

But unfortunately, her father had noticed the strange number on the phone bill, and on a whim, called and asked who it was.

He had called Casey into the living room, voice sombre, telling her to sit on the couch, and sat on the chair opposite. That was always how Casey knew she was in trouble.

He had cast the phone bill onto the coffee table between them, several calls highlighted. Her heart sank when she recognized the number.

"Whose number is that?" He asked. Casey swallowed hard, she wasn't able to meet her fathers eyes.

"I don't know." She said, weakly.

"Really Titch?" He asked. "Because you made those calls."

Casey looked at the phone bill again, "could be one of my friends." she suggested.

"Really? It's a Michigan dial code. You know anyone in Michigan?" He asked. Casey hated how he never got to the point right away. He liked toying with her, giving her the chance to dig herself in deeper. She began to fidget with the zipper on her hooded jacket.

"Well?" He asked. Casey shrugged in reply. His face turned red, and his eyes narrowed to slits. "It's bad enough that you're still talking to Zachary, without you fucking lying about it too." He snapped. His voice had lost it's previous mock friendly cadence, which had been replaced. Casey kept her eyes focused down, even as she felt hot tears begin to roll down her face.

"Let's get one thing clear Casey," He said levelly, "if I ever catch you communicating with Zachary again, you are out of this house, instantly. I don't give a fuck that you're only sixteen, and I don't give a fuck where you end up, because as far as I'm concerned, Zachary is no longer my son, and if you want to side with him, then you're no longer my daughter. This is your one and only warning. Do we have an understanding?" He asked, tilting her chin up, forcing her eyes to meet his. Casey gave a hesitant nod.

"Good. You're grounded for a month, you will come straight home from school and report to me. And don't you dare go crying to your mother about this, or I'll make it two."

And Casey knew he meant it.

************

Just like now. Her father was practically shaking with anger. She had managed to keep her communications with Zach from her parents since she was sixteen, only ever calling him from a payphone, and making sure her father was busy when she went out to meet him. It wasn't that she was ashamed that she was still talking to Zach, far from it. It was just easier if they didn't know. Her father was nothing if not a stubborn bastard. But this had gone on long enough.

"Dad, if you want to punish me for not taking on your narrow-minded views and abandoning my own family, go ahead. If you want me to pick you and Mom or Zach, I pick Zach." Casey said, using her authoritative lawyer voice. Her father tried to stare her down, but she looked straight into his matching green eyes. He was silent for a few seconds, perhaps taken aback then he answered.

"Your choice." He said, turning on his heel and marching straight out of the bar without a backward glance. Zach's mouth was hanging open,

"Am I imagining things, or did little Casey just stand up to our Dad?" He asked.

"Shut up Zach," Casey said, giving him a not so gentle arm punch. She felt surprisingly relieved after telling her Dad where to go, though she knew this was likely to come back and give her a rather significant bite on the ass at a later date.

"Seriously though, it means a lot, thank you." Zach said seriously this time. Elliot relinquished his grip on Casey for a moment so Zach could pull her into a prolonged hug. He let her go with a quick kiss on the forehead. Casey decided the moment was getting far too Hallmark, so she grabbed a napkin from the table and wiped her forehead dramatically,

"Don't push it." She muttered. Zach shook his head, laughing.

"Welcome to being an adult Case." He replied.

"You know what, I should go find Dad and tell him I've changed my mind. You're an ass." Casey said, even though she was laughing too.

"I hate to kill this little family moment," Alex said, "but we have different sort of 'case' to discuss."

Abbie agreed, "yeah, we're almost ready to leave it up to the jury, and I'm still not confident we've done enough."

"I had a thought about that actually. I think there might be a way to put it beyond doubt." Alex said.

"How?" Elliot asked, his caterpillar like eyebrows snaking together.

"Olivia's pretty confident we can't touch her. She had approached me and Casey since the rape, what if we try a sting. Juries love video evidence." Alex suggested.

Casey shook her head, "Olivia isn't dumb enough to try anything now that the case is nearly over and she has a damn good shot at an acquittal."

"Can't we bait her? Come on Casey, losing this case isn't an option, especially not for you, do I need to remind you that your job is pretty much riding on us getting a guilty verdict…"

Casey rose a hand, "it's no good. She'll never go for it." She sighed, before adding quietly, "besides, the video already exists."

"What?" Everyone at the table said, near enough at the same time. Casey rested her elbows on the table and her face in her hands.

"I didn't want to use it. Not unless we absolutely had too. But I guess we have to now."

"What are you talking about?" Elliot asked, concerned.

"El, you remember when you came to my office the day after I told you about it, and Liv was there, but I told you nothing happened?"

"Yeah," Elliot nodded, remembering being confused by the paperwork that had been scattered all over the floor. He had chosen not to ask, thinking maybe Casey had done it. He'd thrown bigger things when sufficiently angry.

"She attacked me, in my office." Casey said numbly, "I was…embarrassed, I didn't exactly defend myself, I was hoping we could avoid using it…"

Abbie pounced on it, "your office has surveillance?"

"Yes." Casey admitted. "I got the tape off security, it's in my office drawer, locked."

Abbie looked astounded, "well this is great news, the jury will eat this up."

Casey worked her jaw slowly. She was not looking forward to being humiliated in the courtroom all over again.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N Finally got another update on this! I wasn't sure how to end it (plus I've got a little carried away writing my other story, 'In Their Place', shameless plug, read it if you have a mo, I'm more proud of that one that this really!), plus I wanted to make sure I remembered all the loose ends so I could tie them up, as I hate when writers don't do that… This isn't actually the last chapter, but it shall be soon.**

**Thanks for reading, and **_**pllllllllease**_** review if you have a chance… x**

Casey sat in the bathroom, on the edge of the bath, smoking a cigarette, trying her best to shut out the world. Even though she had opened the window, she was near certain that some smoke was leaking out under the door and that it was only a matter of time before Alex came knocking, ready to kick her ass for smoking up her bathroom.

Luckily, she didn't give a flying fuck.

In the living room, she knew that everyone else, including her brother Zach, were reviewing the surveillance tape she had reluctantly turned over earlier. She didn't need to see it again. She had every detail burned into her memory, and it was playing over in her head, and not only that, her version didn't just display the events visually. It engaged all five senses. The door rattled.

"Novak, you'd better be on fire!" Alex called from the other side of the door.

"Sorry." Casey called out.

"Can I come in?" Alex asked.

"Can I have just a tiniest bit of privacy?" Casey called back, even though she wasn't actually using the toilet.

"Come on Casey." Alex said softly. Casey rolled her eyes, tossed her cigarette out the open window and unlocked the door. Alex walked in and slid the lock back across. "Case, no one thinks any less of you." She whispered.

"Really?" Casey said, tone making it obvious it was not actually a question. She stationed herself on the rim of the bathtub again, and Alex put the toilet seat lid down and perched there.

"Casey, you recounted the rape in detail on the stand, and you did great. ." Alex said, leaning her head down and peeking out from under her glasses at Casey. Casey shifted her jaw.

"The rape was one thing, she had a gun, and she cuffed me, I had to co-operate. In my office, she didn't even have her gun, she didn't threaten any sort of violence, and I let her touch me because I was afraid. I was scared fucking shitless, and I just let her do it." Casey clenched her hands on the cool ceramic tub. She was glad that for once her reaction to talking about the event was anger, not torrentially teary distress.

"It's alright that you were scared Casey," Alex said, placing a hand on Casey's knee, "you've got to get over this whole pride thing already, it's getting old."

"You're one to talk," Casey said, folding her arms, "where's Alex?"

"She's still staying with a friend, I, uh. I'm not sure she's coming back at all." Alex admitted cagily.

"So you told her that Olivia used to beat the crap out of you a hundred times and made you keep it a secret, raped you several times, and then came back and manipulated you into sleeping with her, or did you just give her the last, more pallatable part of that." Casey asked in one breath. Alex began to fidget in front of her.

"That is not the same thing at all." She said.

"Isn't it?" Casey asked, "because from where I'm sitting, it looks like you're throwing your relationship away because you're too proud to admit that the reason you slept with Olivia was that you were afraid of her."

Alex swallowed hard, it seemed she and her predecessor had more in common that Casey first thought, "Al will never look at me the same way again." Alex said finally.

"Now you see my problem." Casey said, getting to her feet and leaving the bathroom before anyone questioned what the two of them were doing together in the bathroom for so long.

************

The next day, Abbie was sat in her office, positively glowing as she held the phone receiver to her ear.

"I was hoping I could talk about that deal you offered prior to the start of the case." Whitaker said. She could practically hear him sweating on the other side of the phone.

"I'm sorry Whitaker, that was a one time take it or leave it offer, and I'm afraid you left it." She smiled. She had been looking forward to this grovelling phone call ever since she had admitted the videotape into evidence. Whitaker knew as well as she did that the tape was a slam dunk for the prosecution, and it was due to be shown to the jury when the trial resumed later that day.

"Would you be willing to talk about another deal?" Whitaker asked.

Abbie paused for a few moments, "let me think about it…no. I offered to plead her out, and you refused."

"Come on Carmichael," He pleaded, "that was before…"

"Before you thought we had a hope in hell of winning the case, well I'm afraid that's yours and your clients problem. See you in court." She said, hanging up before he had a chance to say goodbye.

She was going to enjoy this.

She was going to enjoy it a lot.

************

It was the last day of the court case, but with the video evidence, it was a sure win. As such, Casey had decided not to go to the courthouse. She wasn't needed anyway.

It was getting on to eight in the morning and she didn't want to get out of bed, but she really needed the bathroom. Unfortunately, Elliot was sprawled next to her, laid on his back with one arm draped across her protectively, as he had gotten into the habit of doing lately, trapping her with his heavy limb. Carefully, she slid out of bed, replacing her body with a pillow so she could slip back into the cosseted position when she returned from the little lawyers room. She passed through the living room, spying her brother sleeping on the couch and seriously considered drawing a fake moustache on him.

Casey was just washing her hands and thinking about whether or not to have a cigarette on the balcony before returning to bed with Elliot, when she heard a crash from the other room. She started, cautiously peering out into the living room. She could see that the sound had woken Zach too, and he was sat upright on the couch, head darting around.

"Casey?" Alex said, popping her head out of her room.

"What was that?" Zach asked, stretching large and jumping to his feet.

Casey shrugged, if it wasn't Zach or Alex, it must have been Elliot. He might have woken up and found her gone. She put a finger to her lips, hushing Zach and Alex before peeping into the guest bedroom she and Elliot were sharing.

Casey felt her heart leap into her throat as she took in the scene there.

************

Alex was stood in the living room with Zach, wrapped in a warm, downy bathrobe, which she was glad off, the balcony door was open and the cold was drifting in around her bare ankles. Alex wondered if Casey had been smoking out there again, it wouldn't be the first time she had left it open.

She looked over at Casey who presently had her head inside the guest bedroom, but had frozen in place.

"Casey?" Alex said, coming up behind her fellow lawyer.

"Don't move." Came a voice from the bedroom. It was an unmistakable voice that had alternately and equally set butterfly's batting against her stomach, and sent chills coursing down her spine.

How in the hell had Olivia Benson gotten into the guest bedroom?

************

Which, incidentally, was precisely the thought on Casey's mind as she glanced back and forth panickedly, between Olivia and Elliot. Olivia was stood next to the bed, silver glistening in one hand with a shimmer of red. Elliot was lying motionless on the bed, blood coming from somewhere; it looked dramatic and vivid, rich shades of crimson against the white bedspread.

"What did you do?" Casey asked, voice choking. She wanted desperately to run to Elliot and find out what Olivia had done to him, but Olivia held out the blade menacingly. "You're supposed to be in court." She added.

"Well, pardon my French, but fuck that." Olivia said casually. Casey stared at Elliot's prostrate form, willing with everything in her for his chest to rise and fall.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N Finally got another chapter written! Apologies for grammar, and generally poorly constructed sentences… it is a little past 4am :-S**

**Anyhow, thanks for the reviews so far, and you know what to do when you've finished reading this chapter ;-)**

**I promise this will be completed soon, I just don't want to wrap it all up with a half-assed epilogue. xx **

Seconds slowed to minutes before Casey finally saw Elliot's chest rise and fall, just slightly beneath the duvet, and she allowed herself to breath again.

"Olivia, this is crazy." Casey said, immediately regretting her words as they left her mouth. Evidently, sneaking into peoples homes and knifing them was in no uncertain terms, absolutely in-fucking-sane, but that wasn't perhaps the best thing to say to soothe a knife wielding maniac. Though the term maniac was perhaps inaccurate, Olivia seemed quite calm, which was in a way more unnerving.

"Hell, I've got nothing to lose." Olivia shrugged. "Whitaker showed me the evidence you sent over. I've seen enough of these cases to know I'm going away. Maybe not for long, but still, my police careers shot to hell. And what else do I have?"

"This isn't going to help matters." Casey said as steadily as she could, hands raised, slowly edging forward despite herself. She could hear slow footsteps behind her, Alex or Zach must have been moving closer.

"Stay where you are." Olivia said suddenly, making Casey jump. "And that goes for for you too Alex, and whoever it was on your couch." She shouted in the general direction of the door.

"Alright, alright." Casey said, raising her hands again. Olivia walked over, with an almost swagger. Justifiable, since she was most definitely in control. She put the tip of the blade against Casey's stomach. It was a big one, most likely borrowed from Alex's kitchen. "Hey, calm down." Casey said, heart beginning to pick up pace, she could feel her pulse throbbing in her neck.

"Do I not look composed to you counsellor?" Olivia asked brightly. The point of the blade pressed harder against her, only just piercing her vest and skin.

"Can we just talk?" Casey asked shakily.

"Uh, no." Olivia said.

************

Alex and Zach stood together, keenly listening to the discourse. Alex was contemplating whether to run in there and try talking to her. Maybe she could get through to her.

Or maybe that would just make things worse.

You needed a quick mind to be a lawyer, but this wasn't the sort of situation she was accustomed to processing speedily. She was still flicking back and forth between her options when she heard a muted thud, and Olivia exited the bedroom, wet bloodied knife in hand.

"Hey Alex." She greeted, so casual they might have chanced up on each other in the street.

"Hey Liv." Alex said. She wanted to run over and shake her, asking what the hell she had done, but histrionics weren't going to help anyone, and had never really been becoming on her. "What happened?"

"You mean who did I stab?" Olivia asked, affecting a mock serial killer motion with the knife as she strolled over to Alex. Zach stepped in front of her.

"If you've hurt my sister I swear to god, I'll kill you." He growled. Realization flashed across Olivia's face.

"God, I was wondering who the hell you are. Question answered." Olivia said, smiling, knife held out at the pair of them.

"I mean it." He said.

"Well, you could," Olivia shrugged, "but unfortunately, I'm going to have to kill you two as well."

Before Olivia could come at them, a ridiculously loud bang rang out in the room and Olivia crumpled to the floor, red blossoming quickly in the shoulder section of her blue blouse. Behind her, Alex Eames stood, sidearm held at arms length, pointed at Olivia. Alex had called her last night, and as much as it had gone against her grain, and wrenched at her gut, she had listened to Casey's advice and admitted that shehad been abused. Eames had told her it would take her a little while to process that, but apparently, she had got through processing just in time, and let herself into the apartment whilst no one was looking.

"Wow, even I'm impressed with my timing." She smiled, changing her grip to one hand, then tossing her cuffs with her free hand to Zach. "You: random dude, cuff her." She kept the gun trained on Olivia while Zach secured Olivia, Alex was already heading for the guest bedroom.

"What's going on here?" Eames asked.

"No idea," Zach said, heading after Alex as soon as he had finished cuffing Olivia.

"Right, I'll just wait here then." Eames said, taking a seat on her couch and wondering if there was any chance of them getting the now copious bloodstains her shooting had created out of the beige carpet. They'd only had it fitted a few weeks ago.

************

Elliot opened his eyes to find Alex Cabot looming over him.

"Elliot, you're awake!" Alex exclaimed, stating the obvious. He reached his hands up to his stinging neck, it was wet.

"Yeah, someone tried to cut my throat from behind, I didn't see…"

"It was Olivia." Alex said. Elliot nodded, then turned to the empty, other side of the bed.

"Casey?" He said. Alex looked across to the other side of the room. He immediately bolted upright to see his girlfriend slumped against the wall, obscured from view by her brother Zach, who was attempting to wake her up. He jumped out of bed, fresh blood dribbling down his chest in response to his sudden movement and joined Zach at her side. On closer inspection, he could see a small, dark red wound in her midriff area. Elliot swore to god she was actually more pale than usual.

"I think she's ok." Zach said, tilting her head up. Casey opened her eyes sleepily.

"Elliot, Zachary?" She murmured. Behind them, he could hear Alex calling an ambulance.

************

"And that should just about cover it." The Doctor said, putting the last stitch into place, closing up the superficial stomach wound. Under the local anaesthetic, all she could feel was a slight tugging, but Casey had to focus on the glaring surgical lights above her. The puncture in her abdomen looked gory, and the sight of the doctor suturing her up like a toy doll was just further augmenting her rising sense of nausea.

"Thanks," Casey said, trying to sit upright before realizing it was impossible with her midsection anaesthetized. "Do you know how long this will take to wear off? I was hoping to go and see another patient…" Casey asked.

"A tall, dark haired man with a somewhat large forehead and some sort of neck injury?" The Doctor asked, taping a thick wad of fluffy white gauze over her now sewn up injury.

"Yeah," Casey said, realizing as she pictured him that Elliot's forehead really was quite immense.

"He's been pestering the nurses to let him in here," The Doctor said, "you lost a lot of blood, you're going to need to take in extra fluids for the next few days." Just then, Casey spotted familiar blue eyes and bushy black eyebrows at the small square window set into the door. She saw his head turn one way, then the other, probably looking out for nurses, before he entered the room. The Doctor frowned, but said nothing.

"Hey baby, how you doing?" Elliot asked, approaching despite the death glares from the Doctor who was filling out unintelligible details on a clipboard.

"You know I hate being called baby." Casey said, knitting her neat brows.

"Sorry ba…Case." He said, catching himself.

"Would you like a moment?" The Doctor asked, when he realized he obviously wasn't getting rid of his unwanted guest.

"If you don't mind," Elliot said. The doctor exited the room.

"Where's Olivia?" Casey asked the second the Doctor had left.

"Holding cell at the precinct," Elliot said, instinctively touching his gauze swathed neck at the mention of his partners name. "The docs took the bullet out and stitched her up."

"How did she get into the apartment?" Casey said. Elliot perched himself on the high hospital bed Casey was presently inhabiting, shrugging his broad shoulders.

"I don't know. Alex thinks she got in through the balcony."

Casey shut her eyes, "fuck."

"What?"

"I think it was me," Casey sighed, last nights memories quickly flooding back into her. After Elliot had fallen asleep she had snuck out to the balcony for a cigarette. She really needed to quit, though knife wielding soon to be ex police officers probably were not the dangers the Surgeon General had in mind when the law was passed to have those 'smoking kills' warnings stuck on the boxes. "I left the balcony door open."

"What were you doing on the balcony?" Elliot asked, confused. Casey had provided enough admissions for one day.

"Thinking." She replied.

"Oh. It's not your fault though, no ones dead, and lets look on the bright side, I think this puts the court case beyond doubt." Elliot said, putting a hand on her cheek, trying to assuage her guilt perhaps.

"Has anyone called Abbie yet? She'll be in court." Casey said.

"Yeah, the Captain called her," Elliot nodded.

"I knew Abbie should have asked for remand." Casey said.

"Come one Case, you know the Judge wouldn't have granted it. No priors, upstanding member of the community and all that…"

"I know, I know…" Casey said, waving a hand lethargically at Elliot.

************

Abbie Carmichael arrived at the hospital an hour or so after Casey and Elliot had been admitted. She had previously been standing around in the courtroom, growing increasingly annoyed at having to wait for the defendant to show up.

She was about to enter the hospital and ask the receptionist where she might find the Detective and ADA when she sighted Alex Eames outside near the exit, staring thoughtfully and smoking. Eames nodded by way of greeting,

"Hey counsellor,""Alex, hey, what are you…"

"Long story," Eames sighed, "I shot Olivia, badge and gun are all turned in pending investigation."

"Oh," Abbie said, "when I was told Alex shot her I just assumed it was…"

"Lexie?" Eames smiled, "she hasn't got the aim to get a gun permit. She can barely see two feet in front of her unless she's got her glasses on."

"Well thank god for that," Abbie said, "if it had been Alex who'd shot Olivia this would have got a hell of a lot more complicated. Where're the rest of the guys?"

"I'll take you," Eames said, stubbing out her cigarette and leading the way.

************

Abbie and Alex both couldn't hold in a little girly aw when they entered Casey's hospital room to find Elliot had snuck in somehow. He was tucked in next to her, his body curled protectively around the lawyers, one hand woven with one of hers, and his head resting on her shoulder. The couple were blissfully asleep, which Abbie thought was quite an accomplishment since both had been held at knifepoint mere hours ago. It seemed a shame to wake them, but Abbie had a blue document in her jacket pocket which was burning a hole with its incredulity. She tried a deliberate throat clear, but that didn't wake them. Alex Eames seemed perturbed at her insisting they break up such a hallmark moment, but walked over and gently nudged Elliot's shoulder.

"What!" He awoke with a start, waking Casey in the process.

"Oh good, you're awake." Abbie said. Elliot moved only his head while Casey tried, in vain, to put a little distance between the two, the moment perhaps a little too personal for Casey to want to share. Abbie pulled the folded document from her jacket. "Motion from Whitaker: Not guilty by reason of mental defect. I asked him if the mental defect was on the part of his client or himself, but it seems he's dead serious about this defence."

"When did Whitaker have time to get this motion to you?" Casey asked, confused. Elliot nodded,

"Yeah, it's what," He consulted his wristwatch, "11:12am. We arrived at the hospital at around 9:30."

Abbie crossed her arms, "what are you suggesting?" Eames seemed to have already gotten the picture,

"It's a set up. Whitaker hasn't even been to see Olivia yet, and unless anyone's leaked to him, he doesn't know the details of the attack. I think he's been able to file this so quickly because he knew what was going to happen." She said, putting the details together succinctly.

"Exactly," Casey concurred, shuffling herself into a sitting position, much to Elliot's displeasure. He slid himself up next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders, not wanting to leave contact. "Whitaker knew that his defence was tanked so he decided to play his last card. He told Liv to go do something 'crazy' so he could claim she has just conveniently flipped."

"It doesn't matter whether Whitaker knew, hell, even if he told her to do it! We can't prove he did." Abbie said. Casey frowned, as did Elliot.

"Of course it matters, if Whitaker told his client to go commit a crime, that makes him an accessory." Casey said.

"Casey, we _both_ went to law school," Abbie said, placing her hands on her hips, "we can go after Whitaker, but we'd need Olivia's testimony. And if we want her testimony, we've got to give her something in return. Something like a plea bargain. So that gives us a somewhat shitty choice: Go after Olivia full steam ahead and forget Whitaker's involvement, or cut Olivia a deal so we can get them both, even if that means we have to go easier on Benson."


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Final chapter! Yay! This is a little epiloguey, but it felt necessary… the follow up story to this will hopefully be amazing, and up for reading shortly.**

**Oh, and thanks for reading, even if this story has kind of rambled on a little! x**

Casey shifted her jaw side to side, mulling the options over. Then it came to her.

"Not necessarily," She said, still roughing the idea out in her head. It was a long shot, but this was their last dice throw.

"What are you thinking?" Elliot asked, curious. When she turned to face him, her nose brushed his. Casey shuffled away a little. It was inappropriate enough hosting a legal meeting in bed wearing nothing but a flimsy hospital gown without Elliot getting too cosy.

Abbie sighed deliberately, rolling her eyes, annoyed that Casey was once again contradicting her "Novak, I really don't think we can…"

Casey interrupted, "How did Whitaker get the document to you?"

"Jackass could hardly wait," Abbie scoffed, "he faxed a copy this morning. Actual document arrived with his lackey a few hours later."

Casey smiled, "I knew it. We got him."

************

This time, when the court case resumed, Olivia was brought in swamped in an orange jumpsuit. Her previous shell-shocked innocence routine was gone, and instead she looked listless, defeated. She sat on the stand, shoulders slumped. The jury could have been forgiven for being taken in, hell, if Abbie Carmichael wasn't sitting behind the prosecution with an ace tucked neatly up her crisply tailored suit jacket sleeve, she might have fallen for Benson's kicked puppy act.

Whitaker didn't engage in his customary casual pacing, instead he stood in front of the witness stand, one elbow lent on the bench, gently questioning the Detective, who answered in low monosyllables, blinking at invisible tears.

Abbie just waited patiently for her turn.

************

Abbie entered the room and paused, for added drama, her best poker face firmly in place. She set her briefcase down heavily on the table. Three sets of expectant eyes stared up at her, two blue, one green.

"Guilty on all counts, sentencing is next week," Abbie said, finally cracking a smile after what felt like an eternity.

It had been weeks since Abbie had sat patiently whilst Whitaker spun his tale. Digging himself in deeper.

Then she had casually walked up to the witness desk, slapping down the faxed copy of the motion, alongside the NYPD Incident report. In luminous green highlighter, Abbie had marked out both the time stamp automatically printed at the bottom of the facsimile and the time scrawled onto the police report.

Mere minutes apart.

It would have been impossible (or at least infinitely improbable) for Whitaker to have found out, written up the appropriate forms and faxed the copy to Abbie within the time frame.

It had been a nice spot by Novak, who had credited it to her previous experience in white collar, where her work had been all about documents. Abbie had enjoyed dropping that particular bombshell, watching the colour drain from Whitakers face as the mistrial was declared. He'd since been disbarred.

Olivia's retrial had been held a few months later, and it hadn't lasted long. Abbie had managed to get her on two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of sexual assault.

Cabot had been a little put out that they couldn't get her on rape (on moral grounds, she was offended that technically, under the law, it was impossible for Olivia to have raped Casey, there was no provision for it)

Stabler was just glad it was over and Novak cared less for the verdict than the actual result. Even if the judge was lenient, Benson was looking at a good few years behind bars.

Casey was the first to walk over, "well done counsellor," she said, a smile and genuine appreciation plain on her face. She offered a hand in congratulations.

"Forget that, come here," Abbie said, refusing the handshake and pulling Casey into a hug. Elliot took it upon himself to join the hug, and Alex, although she rolled her eyes at the schmaltzy moment at first, seemingly feeling left out also joined in what had become a rather substantial and prolonged group hug.

************

Alex Cabot stood in her kitchen, arms crossed over her chest, resolute, "we can do this."

Casey shook her head slightly, doubt simmering behind her green eyes, "I don't know Al…"

"Come on Casey," Alex said, inclining her forehead and staring at Casey over her glasses, "how hard can it be?"

"Alex, we can't bake cookies, I don't even know what to put in them," Casey said, retreating from the kitchen counter to a safe distance, as though the ingredients spread out thereon might leap from their station to punish her for her domestic inadequacies.

Alex shrugged, "it's simple, flour, eggs and…" Alex glanced up thoughtfully, trying to remember, "….shit."

"Sounds appetizing," Casey smirked, "I'm going to go look up a recipe on the internet," she added, retreating back to the living room.

It was a Saturday morning the week after the rape trial closed. Whilst it had been months since the trial began, Casey hadn't quite gotten around to moving back to her own apartment. But since Eames hadn't quite gotten around to moving back in (or engaging in any sort of meaningful conversation with Alex at all), Alex was glad to have a temporary roomie. Alex had never been fond of being alone. And besides, the younger ADA had grown on her over the course of the case, even if her presence meant that Elliot also lived in her apartment any waking second that he wasn't occupied looking after his copious offspring (as she was this weekend).

"You've got mail," Casey said, padding back into the kitchen. She was still dressed in an oversized baseball shirt, Alex guessed it belonged to Elliot, and fluffy powder blue slippers, Alex was already dressed in loose fitted jeans and a sweater, she had never been able to bring herself to stay in nightwear after 9am. It didn't seem proper.

Novak shuffled through the mail, "this is yours, this is your…"

Alex rolled her eyes and took the wad of envelopes from Casey, "Case, odds are they're all mine. Since you don't actually live here."

"Is that a not so subtle hint?" Casey asked, raising her strawberry-blonde brows.

Alex winced at her own lack of tact, "oh god no, of course not, sorry, that sounded…"

"It's fine Alex, honestly." Casey said, dismissing Alex's apologies with a wave, "Actually, I was thinking of asking Elliot if he wanted to get a place with me."

"Big step," Alex said, distractedly sorting her mail, mostly junk, but one letter was in an unassuming brown envelope, postmarked on the back from the DA's office. Curious, she quickly tore the seal, extracting the two page document.

"I know, it's just, I can't go back to my old place, so I'm gonna have to move anyway, Elliot's always complaining about how empty his apartment feels…""Wow," Alex interrupted suddenly. She _had_ been listening to Casey, but the contents of the letter demanded her immediate attention.

"What?" Casey asked, appearing at Alex's side, peering at the letter.

"It's a job offer from the DA's office," Alex said. She felt as surprised as Casey looked.

"What position?" Casey asked, looking a mildly threatened, perhaps concerned that the letter was a requesting that she reprise her role as Special Victims Unit Assistant District Attorney, the position Novak still occupied and would shortly be returning to after extended leave.

"Your boss," Alex said, re-reading the letter to ensure she had understood correctly.

**THE END**

**A/N2: Finally managed to finish this! Took a while mind. Anyhow, hope you enjoyed reading it, I was kinda nervous with it being my first fanfic and all, but it's been fun.**

**Since I left a load off plot lines untied, I'm doing a second story (as you may have guessed from the open ending) following straight on from this, tentatively titled "The Makings"**


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